Our Part in the Global Mission of the Church

We are in our last sermon in our Summer series called “Back to the Basics”… and I have just SO enjoyed the various elements of this series… from the preaching cohort of men from our church that preached most of it… to the opportunity to dig into some favorite passages and lay them out clearly...

But the GOAL was to strengthen every disciple in the fundamentals of following Jesus… and so hopefully we accomplished that goal…

Maybe take a quick inventory of this if you’ve been working through this series this summer: have you grown stronger in the fundamentals of following Jesus?

For those who are not yet followers of Jesus, hopefully this series served to show you what Christians believe… and what that means for their lives so that you can count the cost of following Jesus. And I PRAY that you would give your life to him today because HE IS WORTH IT!

For newer disciples: hopefully this series helped you wrap your head around following Jesus and showed you his wonderful plan for you so that you can grow up in maturity in him. I’d urge you, go back to the reading plan and see if there is one specific place where you would want to pursue more growth… and take the next step!

And for those who have been following Jesus for a long time… maybe this series filled in some gaps for you… and hopefully it gave you a tool for discipling others...

By the way, I designed the reading plan and study guide so that it would be a foundational study for any mature believer to pick up and walk through with any new believer.

I hope this is a new tool in your toolbox that you can use, and we will make it easy for you to access… this is going to become part of our core discipleship material here at Oak Hill.

But a tool like this is not discipleship… it hopefully will FACILITATE discipleship… but God designed discipleship to include more mature believers helping less mature believers and unbelievers meet and follow Jesus through RELATIONSHIP.

[Show discipleship pathway] We can see this in our discipleship pathway that we use at Oak Hill…

It’s about disciples PROCLAIMING JESUS to unbelievers and believers alike...

It’s about equipping those who believe to faithfully abide, grow, and endure as servants of Jesus.

And it’s about SENDING those equipped servants as witness to the power of Jesus so that MORE people can hear and MORE people can follow!

Following Jesus is not just about “you and Jesus...” it’s about living SENT… You aren’t mature in your faith until you live SENT as a witness of Jesus.

After Jesus’ resurrection, he talked over and over about what his disciples were called to do after he ascended to heaven… he brought it up on at least FIVE different occasions - this theme CONSUMED his parting words… together we call these 5 statements “The Great Commission.”

Those Great Commission passages are actually going to guide our prayer night tonight, but I want to mention the most famous one right now… this is DEFINITELY a BASIC you should know:

Matthew 28:18-20 - And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Notice the main command there… the only command in the original Greek - “make disciples”… and not just “make disciples,” but he tacks on that phrase “of all nations.”

Followers of Jesus don’t get to pick and choose their favorite places to care about… Jesus commanded that we make disciples of all nations!

WHEREVER he sends us… however he connects us… WE GO!

But sometimes we get overwhelmed by that and say, “HOW! HOW can you expect ME to make disciples of ALL NATIONS?!?!

Because we tend to think of discipleship as this individualized thing, don’t we?

The disciples could have had that same thought… each one of them could have said, “Jesus, I’m just some guy standing on a mountain in Galilee. I’ve barely left the borders of Israel. How do you expect me to do this???”

But as this plays out in the book of Acts, we see that they understood this commission not given to them as individuals, but as a group…

And not just the closed group that was standing there that day… but a called out assembly that is ever expanding and reaching the whole world.

God’s plan to fulfill the Great Commission was the multiplication of disciples... but not JUST disciples… it was the multiplication of churches.

That’s the story of the Book of Acts… it’s the context of the whole New Testament… and it’s what we’re going to see that in the verses we are studying today… here’s what I hope you do as a result of this study today:

Big Idea: Play your part in God's worldwide mission through the multiplication of disciples and churches.

Your Bibles are open to the book of Colossians.

The context of Colossians in itself is a study in how to make disciples of all nations.

You see, Paul had gone into the nearby city of Ephesus on his second missionary journey and started proclaiming Jesus.

And people were saved… and those people were gathered into churches. And in those churches, they were equipped as servants of Christ and sent as witnesses into the world.

Well, one of those guys who heard the gospel was named Epaphras.

And Epaphras realized, “You know what?! The people in my small hometown of Colossae need to hear this… I’m going to take the good news of Jesus and proclaim it there.”

And he DID. And people believed. And they were gathered together and leaders were raised up. And the church in Colossae was planted.

So PAUL… even though this church was the RESULT of his ministry… has never actually met these people. I LOVE that about the book of Colossians.

They don’t even know Paul, but he’s investing in their church and asking them to invest in his ministry.

That’s why he dispatched Tychichus, one of his teammates, to deliver this letter and to minister to them…

Paul would had loved to come himself, but he’s stuck in prison for telling people about Jesus…

Some suggest he’s in prison in Ephesus, some suggest Caesarea and some Rome.

Either way… he’s unable to come meet them, and is introducing himself and his ministry by way of letter…

So we are going to study the very END of this letter…

Read with me Col. 4:2-18.

Participate in God's worldwide mission through the multiplication of local churches.

Our participation in God’s worldwide mission must start where everything else of any eternal value starts… in PRAYER:

1) Pray for our local and global gospel opportunities. (v. 2-4)

Explain: I want you to notice… as Paul calls the Colossians to prayer, he does not allow them to choose between what’s happening right in front of them… and what’s happening wherever he is.

He gives them three ways to pray in their own context, and then asks them to pray also for his missionary team in their context.

Prayer is the primary way the local and global mission of the gospel are tied together.

I want you to see four ways Paul instructs them to pray.

First he says “continue steadfastly in prayer.”

a) Pray Persistently - Prayer keeps us waiting.

We said this last week - God doesn’t save us and take us immediately to heaven.

He leaves us here in the world until we die and go to be with Jesus or until Jesus returns, whichever comes first...

And he doesn’t just LEAVE us here… during this time of waiting, he SENDS us into the world to live IN the world, not of it.

And that means that we are going to face trials and temptations and suffering that sometimes last a LONG time.

Not only that, but we are going to rub shoulders with those who are lost and dying… and we are going to want to reach them and share the gospel with them… and they are going to resist it in their sin… sometimes for a LONG time!

And so Paul instructs us that our prayers must be “steadfast.”

The word means to persist obstinately in prayer.

Some of you know what this is like: you’ve been praying for a loved one for a LONG time… and they seem further from Jesus than when you started praying.

And you’re tempted to just stop. To give up.

To you Paul says, CONTINUE STEADFASTLY. Be persistently obstinate. Refuse to give up in prayer.

Because there are people sitting here in this church today who are only here and following Jesus because someone prayed steadfastly for them over the course of 5, 10, sometimes 20 years.

Prayer keeps us waiting without giving up. It keeps us holding on to what only God can do.

And was we wait, it keeps us watchful.

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

b) Pray Watchfully - Prayer keeps us awake.

Over and over again, the scriptures command us to be watchful.

This word is the opposite of falling asleep.

We are to watch out for being lulled asleep by the long night before the dawn of Christ’s return.

We are to watch out for the return of our Lord… and the temptations that can come until that time...

And to watch out for the work that God has given us to do in this world and the opportunities he has set before us.

And PRAYER is the number one activity that God’s word associates with being watchful.

Were you ever driving down the road late at night, and you are TRYING to stay awake, but your eyes get heavy and your head starts nodding?

You know the most effective thing I’ve found to keep me awake? Talking to someone.

And talking to God in prayer keeps us awake as we drive forward in the mission God has given us.

Now one of the things that will fuel our persistence and watchfulness is remembering what God has done already:

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

c) Pray Thankfully - Prayer keeps us hopeful.

Our looking forward in hopeful petition is fueled by our looking backward in thanksgiving.

Remembering how God rescued us from the power of Satan, sin, and death, will give us hope for what he wants to do in the dark world around us.

When we are truly thankful for our own salvation, and the work of God in our lives, we will want to pray for him to do that same work in the people around us.

We will remember that our only hope is for HIM to work!

But it can be easy to pray persistently, watchfully, and thankfully, and STILL have a small vision for what God wants to do in the world.

There are a lot of disciples who pray A LOT… but still don’t understand God’s heart for us to make disciples of ALL NATIONS.

So notice what Paul says in v. 3-4 - “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.” (Colossians 4:3–4, ESV)

As we pray persistently, watchfully, and thankfully, we must also...

d) Pray Missionally - Prayer keeps us focused.

Paul says, “At the same time...”

In other words, whenever you are praying, make sure to include US… Paul’s team of church-planting missionaries… in your prayers.

This phrase also implies that these requests that they will be praying for him are the things they are praying for themselves:

That God may open a door for the word…

In other words that God may give them gospel opportunities… and that the gospel would be received by those to whom they preach.

And that Paul may make it clear - plain… bold.. not holding back on the message of the gospel...

If the Apostle Paul needs prayer for clarity in his message, I think we do too.

In fact, let me make that gospel clear… plain… for all of us here today… because if we are going to pray to make the gospel to be made clear, we had better be clear on what the gospel is.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that Jesus is Savior and Lord over all:

You see, we ALL were created by a Holy God. He is absolutely perfect. And we were created to glorify him and enjoy him forever.

But humanity decided they had a better idea: they decided that they could ignore God’s design and try to be God in his place.

That’s called Sin… sin isn’t just a list of bad things we do…

Sin is when we rebel against God and try to take the place of God or we put other things or ideas in his place.

And our sin earns us eternal separation from God called death.

Every human being has sinned against God in this way and therefore is deservingof death

But God was not content to leave us in our sin...

He sent his son Jesus to take on human flesh and to live the perfect life that we cannot live...

And not only that… he sent his Son to die the death that we deserve to die...

And not only that… he sent his Son Jesus to rise from the dead and conquer the enemy that we could not conquer: Satan, sin and death.

And right now Jesus has ascended to heaven… and he’s waiting for the day when he returns to Judge the living and the dead...

Those who are his own will enter into everlasting life...

And those who have rejected him will enter into eternal conscious torment in hell.

And it is only through turning from your sin and trusting Jesus as the ONLY Savior and Lord that you can be saved.

He alone can provide forgiveness of sin and cleansing from your unrighteousness.

And if you have never trusted Jesus as your salvation… I would URGE YOU…

Confess your sin and your need for him to save you.

Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

And you will receive salvation… God will save you from your sin NOW and give you the Holy Spirit to guide you in following Jesus...

And God will save you for all eternity to be with him.

I mean it right now. If that’s you… come talk to me after the service… there is nothing more urgent.

That’s as clear as I can make it… and that’s as clear as Paul wanted to make it for everyone he encountered.

And the Colossian church was to pray for opportunities to proclaim that clear gospel of Jesus for Paul GLOBALLY… AND for themselves locally.

It was not an either/or.

Has the message of Jesus come out of your mouth with that kind of clarity to anyone recently?

Then pray for it. Pray for open doors for the gospel. Pray for boldness and clarity.

I want you to understand: Prayer is the most powerful thing you can do to participate in God’s worldwide mission.

NEVER underestimate the power of prayer.

Prayer takes you beyond our human limitations of time and space… of our inability to affect spiritual change and our ineptitude of clearly communicating the message.

Prayer is the gateway to the power of God which brings salvation!

And so NEVER SAY… “I guess all we can do is pray...”

There is NOTHING that you could do that is more powerful than calling upon the Almighty God of the Universe to work through his people.

That’s why we pray… to realize that this mission is ALL the work of God… and we get to participate in his plan!

YOU need prayer in your local witness. And prayer allows you to access the power of God on behalf of people on the complete other side of the world...

It knits your heart with those who you’ve maybe never even met because you want Jesus to be made known and worshiped in all the earth.

Prayer is the means by which God has chosen to work in the world.

Now maybe you don’t know where to start.

On our Discipleship Pathway Self-Assessment, we have a question about praying for churches outside our local church… and the vast majority of people respond that they rarely pray for churches and missionaries outside our own location except with the prayer leader on Sunday mornings.

And so one of the ways we have purposed to help you actually do this is through our monthly prayer guides.

Every month, we reach out to other local churches and our GCC partners and church planters around the country and around the world and ask them if we can pray for them.

Let me tell you… I visited three GCC churches this month, and those pastors SO appreciate our prayers for them!

We work through that monthly prayer guide in our Sunday celebration services… if we pray for another church on Sunday morning, it’s usually on our prayer guide that month...

But our desire is that you would CONTINUE STEADFASTLY in prayer all throughout the week...

Whenever you are praying… pray for these partners as…

I’d suggest you use it as a bookmark in your Bible so it’s right in front of you when you need it.

We’ve even recently redesigned them.. so that they also have some pictures of people or places... because sometimes that helps with feeling like this is a real place with real needs…

And so USE them… whenever you pray, at the same time, pray also for the churches and missionaries to take gospel opportunities around the world.

Because it’s not a choice between local and global… the mission is to make disciples of ALL nations...

Which means we PRAY for local and global gospel opportunities… and then we get about the work in our own context.

Paul moves right from their prayer for his team to their own local witness:

Look down in your Bibles at verses 5-6: “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5–6, ESV)

Your participation in the WORLDWIDE mission starts with your participation in our church’s LOCAL witness.

2) Participate in our church's local witness. (v. 5-6)

Think about this… if we are to make disciples of ALL nations, then that includes OUR nation… even if it is not LIMITED to our nation.

Now so many people make the idea of local evangelism really complex…

They make it about all these tricks you need to learn to get people to hear the gospel or programs you need to run to get them to come to church...

They act like you need a master’s degree in theology before you can start sharing the gospel...

But that’s not true… all you need is to know the gospel that transformed your own heart.

Whenever the Scriptures talk about our relationships with unbelievers, it really boils down to two things: our walk and our words.

How we live transformed by the work of Jesus...

And how we proclaim what Jesus has done to save us and other sinners just like us.

And verses 5-6 are a great succinct description of that.

Paul says, focus on...

a. Your walk

Walk in WISDOM…

Wisdom is “knowledge applied.”

In other words, take the knowledge of Jesus Christ and let it transform every part of your life.

That’s all that we’ve been talking about in this series...

Work out the fundamentals of the faith in every sphere of your life… your family… your church… your community… your world… every relationship in which you live.

But notice: there’s a specific direction Paul wants them to walk… walk in wisdom… SPECIFICALLY toward outsiders.

Move in the direction of unbelievers.

A lot of times we act like our walk with Jesus will only take us deeper into the sanctuaries of our home and church.

But following Jesus means walking in the direction of outsiders… unbelievers.

Remember, when Jesus walked the earth, the Pharisees continually asked him, “Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

That’s where Jesus walked… and that’s where we must follow.

Paul says that THIS is how we make the best use of the time.

We are to redeem the time until Jesus returns by walking in wisdom toward outsiders.

I believe this is what Paul meant when he asked them to pray for open doors for himself...

Paul FOUND open doors by actually being around unbelievers.

As you pray for open doors, look for opportunities to love and serve unbelievers like Jesus did.

Look for opportunities where you are already around unbelievers, and be a light there.

Find ways to SHOW the transformational work of Jesus in your life… the countercultural kingdom to which you belong (like we talked about last week).

Our good works that follow Jesus’ pattern will get people’s attention...

But we said last week that our works alone will not cause people to glorify our Father in heaven… they won’t make that connection on their own...

We must point them to the fact that JESUS is the wisdom by which we live.

Which will require that we use words...

Participate in our church’s local witness through your walk AND through...

b. Your words

Paul continues… Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt...

No matter what you are saying, your words should be seasoned with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Notice: Paul did NOT say, “Let your speech always be fancy and eloquent...”

Or “Let your speech always be the most intelligent in the room...”

Or “Let your speech always be sharp and cutting...”

No, he said, “Let your speech always be GRACIOUS...”

Our WORDS should reflect the gracious character of our Savior.

They should be winsome...

They should keep people coming back for more.

He says they are “seasoned with salt.” Salt keeps people coming back for more. [pull out bag of chips and eat it]

It brings out good flavor.

It makes people say, “OOOO… I like that… can I please have another???”

And so watch your words.

When you are talking with your Christian friend at the coffee shop… remember that people are always listening.

They are hearing you talk about your church… and how you transition to other topics…

They are hearing your graciousness or lack thereof.

The same is true at the grocery store or at work or sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office or hanging out with your unbelieving kids at home.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks… and a heart that is overcome with the grace of Christ will speak with gracious words.

And that should cause people to take notice.

Maybe even ask questions… Paul says, “That you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Sometimes the questions will be direct like, “What makes you so hopeful and gracious?”

Sometimes the questions will be indirect like, “I really don’t know how you do it… I try to be that patient with my kids, but they just drive me nuts!”

Or “Why in the WORLD are you so kind to that person who obviously has it out for you?!?!”

Those are questions in disguise… and Paul says believers need to be ready to answer each one… that is ready to give gospel answers that point people to Jesus.

Notice that word that he uses in verse 6: “that you may know how you OUGHT to answer each person.”

He used that word earlier in verse 4 referring to his own speech: that he may make his declaration of the gospel clear, which is how he OUGHT to speak.

The Gospel demands clarity.

Every disciple of Jesus must make sure they can clearly explain the gospel and use it to answer the most fundamental questions of the average person.

Unbelievers do not know the source of your light unless you tell to them with clarity.

How will they believe unless they hear? And how will they hear unless someone tells them?

Gospel clarity - That is how you OUGHT to answer each person...

Because THAT is how we make disciples of all nations…

EACH PERSON. Every relationship… every interaction… is an opportunity to proclaim the good news of Jesus… and to call people to follow him.

So who are the outsiders God wants you to walk toward with Jesus ?

And how can you use your words to show them the grace of Jesus and answer them with the good news of Jesus?

Start thinking about that… because at the end of the sermon, we are going to ask you to put some names on a card so that we can pray for you in your witness to them.

And we are going to put those cards in this jar… and bring this jar to our prayer night tonight… and pray over them again… persistently...

And then this jar is going to sit at a prominent place in our new location so that we remember to keep praying…

And if someone comes to know Jesus, we will pull out their name and say, “LOOK! We prayed for you!”

You participate in our church’s local witness when your walk and your words clearly and consistently proclaim Jesus to the unbelievers around us.

Just live and talk… that’s all it takes… as long as your life is consumed by Jesus.

Some people might ask, “Why don’t we do more outreach events as a church… why don’t we have a specific outreach ministry at Oak Hill?”

To which we would answer, “YOU are our outreach ministry: living where you live, loving who you love, working where you work, and going where you go.

Churches make disciples by equipping their members to be servants of Christ and sending them as witnesses into the world.

That’s how we reach the nations… but sending you here… and then as God calls… by sending you there… to the nations.

It’s when we are passionate about seeing the lost know Jesus HERE that we will be effective gospel partners to those who are taking the gospel to other places.

That’s what we see as Paul closes out this letter...

Remember… he’s never met these people… but they play an integral role in his global gospel work…

And so let’s look at how we can...

3) Partner through our church's global relationships. (v. 7-18)

Explain: Paul often closes his letters with greetings and final instructions to individuals who are receiving the letter...

And a lot of times we just skim this part… it’s just a bunch of names we don’t know and can hardly pronounce.

But this is Holy Scripture folks, so we don’t have the option to skip it… and honestly, sometimes these are my favorite parts to study… because they remind me that the New Testament was not written so that we could sit in a classroom and debate the theological details of specific phrases...

The New Testament was primarily letters written to churches on mission.

These letters were intended to strengthen the churches and connect them with the broader mission of making disciples of all nations.

The and the greeting portions of these letters SHOW US how to relate to other churches and missionary partners on a global scale.

So let’s do this…

First, Paul commends the guy carrying the letter: Tychichus.

“Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.” (Colossians 4:7, ESV)

The mention of Tychicus shows us that we must...

a) Be willing to share a common interest in the gospel. (v. 7)

Tychicus is to deliver this letter… and then catch them up on all that Paul is doing.

He’s like the missionary who comes to your church with the slide show to gain support.

He’s a representative of Paul… and they are to listen to him.

They are to actually care.

So if we have a global partner come to town… or we send you a prayer letter from someone like the Recamans… READ IT. PRAY FOR THEM.

Maybe even send them an email or a card.

Care.

Tychichus himself is a good example of this… he is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

He was a TRUE gospel partner because he cared about the work they were all doing.

But notice: Tychicus didn’t come up with this idea to go to Colossae on this mission… he was sent…

Look at verses 8-9: “I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.” (Colossians 4:8–9, ESV)

b) Be willing to send and be sent. (v. 8-9)

David and I were talking about this just this week… to be a MISSIONARY is to be a SENT ONE - An “Emissary,” carrying the message of the one who sent you.

True missionaries don’t just decide on their own, “I’m going to go be a missionary today. I’ll decide where to go. I’ll decide what to do. I’m declaring myself a missionary.”

NO! Missionaries, by very definition, are SENT.

They are sent, first and foremost by Jesus Christ...

And he has chosen to use the LOCAL CHURCH to be the agent of that sending.

Missionaries are sent and called where they need to go, most clearly when real flesh-and-blood churches send and call them.

We see this even in the ministry of the Apostle Paul…

He had already been called by Jesus to be an apostle to the Gentiles at his conversion, but he was SENT in Acts 13 by the church in Antioch.

They helped define the time and location of the sending.

I don’t say this out loud a lot… but I THINK AND PRAY about it often… that I LONG that God would call many of you to leave this church to go take the gospel where it needs to go in other places.

Maybe that will be short term for some of you… maybe it will be long term.

Maybe it will be full-time… maybe you will go do the work that you do in a place where people haven’t heard about Jesus.

But if you feel the Lord stirring up that desire in you, don’t get the cart before the horse.

Be willing to be SENT - Involve your Gospel Community and get them praying, involve the elders of our church… so that you can truly be SENT.

So that together we can discern and shape where and what the Lord is calling you to do.

Or maybe the Leaders will come and tap you on the shoulder and say, “We have this value of ‘strategic church planting’ and I need you to go here to help this church get started… I think you’d be a great fit...”

Be willing to be sent.

And be willing to send.

Don’t hold people so closely that you are willing to see them go.

Parents, help your kids get a vision for being SENT into the world as a missionary (whether they are paid to do that or not).

When the Lord directs us to plant a church in the future, be ready to SEND our best people.

Because you rarely just send one… consistently throughout the New Testament, the gospel went out with people working as a team.

We see this in verses 10-13 - “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.

c) Be willing to serve on a team. (v. 10-13)

We need to see our evangelism and mission as a team effort.

Your Gospel Community is a TEAM to support you as you proclaim Jesus to the people around you.

Our church is a TEAM to reach Solanco and Strasburg and Willow Street and Pequea with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And when we plant churches, we plan to send out TEAMS.

In fact, our church’s global partnership guidelines state that to be considered a global partner, you must be on a TEAM with at least two elder-qualified leaders.

That’s because the mission of the church is to both make disciples and plant churches.

And you can’t plant churches and establish leaders unless you have some leaders to establish them.

Not to mention… this was the pattern of the New Testament church.

Jesus sent his disciples out two by two.

Paul always had a team of at least him and one other man.

Be willing, if called, so use your gifts to serve on a team.

But also...

d) Be willing to stay where you are. (v. 14-17)

We see this in verses. 14-17 - “Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”” (Colossians 4:14–17, ESV)

There were people who needed to stay where they were.

Paul was in prison… he HAD to stay put for the time being.

He didn’t call everyone to leave Colossae… then that city would have been left without a witness.

Making disciples of all nations involves people going and people staying until every person has been answered with the clear message of Jesus.

Now maybe you are thinking, “YES! This is the one I can do… I can be willing to stay where I am… no problem, Pastor Ben!”

Don’t get too comfortable…

Because no matter if we are staying or going, we must all...

e) Be willing to suffer for the gospel. (v. 18)

Paul closes the letter by saying, “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.” (Colossians 4:18, ESV)

Remember my chains.

Staying where you are isn’t always easy.

Being a witness will mean that people oppose you.

But Paul is not ashamed of his chains… instead he wants them to remember his chains.

Remember what I’m going through for the sake of the gospel. I’ve

Pray for me.

Participate a witness where you are. Be willing to suffer just like me.

And partner with me in this awesome mission of Jesus Christ to take the gospel to the nations!

Church… following Jesus isn’t just about a private little relationship where Jesus makes my life a little better by giving me the stuff I want… surrendering all for the sake of Christ.

Apply: So what role will you play in the global mission of the church?

Go through these five aspects of partnership and gauge your willingness to follow Jesus wherever he is calling you.

Maybe discern if there are any steps he wants you to take to partner even more through our church’s global relationships… I’d love to talk to you about that.

I truly believe this is the NUMBER ONE thing God wants us to grow in as a church.

I know there are people telling others about Jesus...

But I believe we have a lot of room to grow in our passion for seeing the lost world come to know Jesus.

And I include myself in that… I have a lot of room to grow in this.

But every disciple has a role.

Every disciple is called to pray for local AND global gospel opportunities.

Every disciple is called to PARTICIPATE in our church’s local witness.

And every disciple is called to PARTNER in our church’s global relationships in whatever opportunity arises…

Let’s pray…

1) Write your name on the card provided.

2) Write the name of an unbeliever or unchurched professing believer who you interact with regularly.

3) Pray for open doors to talk to them about Jesus and their relationship to him.

When you are ready, come up and put it in this glass jar.

And then come out tonight and we are going to spend even more time praying for these names… as well as for a whole bunch of churches around the world who are making disciples of all nations.