Sunday Sermon Colossians 4:2-6 (2)

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Praise God from whom al blessings flow....

So let us open our Bibles to Colossians 4 and see what the Lord has planned for us

Read Colossians 4:2-6

Colossians 4:2–6 NKJV

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Prayer

Review

We have come as far as Colossians 4:2 church and have learned that as Paul closes this wonderful epistle that is power packed and practical that he points the Colossian church to prayer.

I think it is important for us to remember that this small church at Colossae was being attacked by false teachers that were attempting to do everything they could do to convince theses believers that Christ is not enough.

The whole book church focuses on the Supremacy or the Pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, not only in the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ, but the church as well.

Last week we spent our time with talking about be devoted to prayer and this is where I would like to pick up.

Colossians 4:2 NASB95

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Again, I really like the NASB here with verse 2.

Devote/ Continue Earnestly- proskartereō-(pros-kar-ter-eh'-o)- v. — to persevere in some activity or cause to the point of devotion. To persist in, to endure, to spend much time in. To persevere and not faint.

The word seems to hint at your priorities, these are the things that you hold on to, the things that are the foundation of your life.

What are you building your life on? What is your foundation made of church? Is it ROCK or is it sand?

When I closed out last week, I shared that we were going to look at a couple parables.

A parable is, literally, something “cast alongside” something else. Jesus’ parables were stories that were “cast alongside” a truth in order to illustrate that truth. His parables were teaching aids and can be thought of as extended analogies or inspired comparisons. A common description of a parable is that it is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Read Luke 11:5-8

Luke 11:5–8 NKJV

And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

Take a look around the text where we are in and you will quickly notice that Jesus is teaching the boys about prayer.

Luke 10:38- 42- we see the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was OCD, or what we might call a busy person. This is someone who cannot sit still, but must always be doing something.

Again, I think we must point out that Martha was not doing anything wrong, but rather being a multitasker who was getting things done around the house.

Martha complains and some say she even tried to manipulate Jesus by saying You do not care that my sister has left me to serve alone???

Jesus answer Martha:

Luke 10:41–42 NKJV

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Church, it is important for us to get this lesson. Jesus said that Mary has chosen that good part.

She took time out of her busy life serving alongside her sister to spend time at the feet of Jesus. She stopped what she was doing and bowed down to the Lordship of Jesus Christ through sitting, praying, and hearing the Word of the Lord.

How often do you do this?

By the way, before I move onto the story at at hand, I wanted to take time out to share that if I say that I have a relationship with my wife and do not talk and listen to her, do I have a relationship or with anyone for that matter?

Do I have to schedule an appointment to talk with her, or do I talk with her throughout my day?

Our relationship with the Lord is the same way! God desires us to seek him in the morning, noon, and night church.

Praise God we do not need an appointment!

For the veil was torn from top to bottom church and now we have instant access.

For before, the Jews would have to go through a priest, but we now have a High Priest:

Hebrews 4:14–16 NKJV

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Mary did the right thing at the right time church. When Jesus showed up, she stopped and dropped, but notice she did not roll:)

2. Then in Luke 11:1-4 Jesus shares the template for prayer which is the Lord’s prayer

3. Then he comes to a parable in Luke 11:5-8

Luke 11:5–8 NKJV

What do you see in this story?

Persistence- shameless audacity (NIV) -(a-nai-dei-a)-insolence n. — shameless immodesty without concern for propriety or one’s own dignity. Ignoring of convention, lack or proper restraint, desire to get.

I think it is importnat for us to realize that in this parable, Jesus did not say that God is like this grouchy neighbor.

In fact, He said just the opposite. If a tired and selfish neighbor finally meets the needs of a bothersome friend, how much more will a loving Heavenly Father meet the needs of His own dear children!

He is arguing from the lesser to the greater.

Church prayer is based on sonship (“Our Father”), not on friendship; but Jesus used friendship to illustrate persistence in prayer.

God the Father is not like this neighbor, for He never sleeps, never gets impatient or irritable, is always generous, and delights in meeting the needs of His children. The friend at the door had to keep on knocking in order to get what he needed, but God is quick to respond to His children’s cries (Luke 18:1–8).

The argument is clear: If persistence finally paid off as a man beat on the door of a reluctant friend, how much more would persistence bring blessing as we pray to a loving Heavenly Father! After all, we are the children in the house with Him!

Let’s look at the next example Jesus lays down at our feet:

Luke 11:9–13 NKJV

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

When was the last time you ask the Lord to pour out the Holy Spirit?

Church, Jesus is the bread of Life! He fulfilled every aspect of the temple church. After Jesus cleared the tables of the money changers in the temple He said:

John 2:19–21 (NKJV)

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

Church, let us ask God for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit.

James said it like this: “You have not because you ask not!”

AW Tozer said, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

One last illustration about being devoted or persistent in prayer comes from Luke 18 church, so lets turn there:

Read Luke 18:1-8

Luke mentions widows more than do all the other Gospel writers combined (Luke 2:37–38; 4:25–26; 7:11–17; 18:1–8; 20:45–47; 21:1–4).

In that day, widows usually had a difficult time making ends meet, in spite of the care God instructed His people to give them (Ex. 22:22–24; Deut. 14:28–29; 16:9–15; Ps. 146:9; Isa. 1:17, 23; Jer. 7:6).

The early church was serious about the care of Christian widows (Acts 6:1; 1 Tim. 5:3–10; James 1:27), a good example for us to follow today.

As we look this parable, we must look through the eyes of the Eastern world, the world that Jesus lived in.

In the East church, The “courtroom” was not a fine building but a tent that was moved from place to place as the judge covered his circuit.

The judge, not the law, set the agenda; and he sat regally in the tent, surrounded by his assistants. Anybody could watch the proceedings from the outside, but only those who were approved and accepted could have their cases tried. This usually meant bribing one of the assistants so that he would call the judge’s attention to the case.

The widow had three obstacles to overcome.

First, being a woman she, therefore, had little standing before the law.

In the Palestinian society of our Lord’s day, women did not go to court. Since she was a widow, she had no husband to stand with her in court.

Last, she was poor and could not pay a bribe even if she wanted to. No wonder poor widows did not always get the protection the law was supposed to afford them!

Now that we understand something of the setting of this parable, we can better understand what Jesus was teaching.

Basically, He was encouraging His disciples to pray, and He did this by presenting several contrasts:

Praying contrasted with fainting (v. 1). If we don’t pray, we will faint; it’s as simple as that! The word faint describes a believer who loses heart and gets so discouraged that he or she wants to quit.

The widow contrasted with God’s elect (vv. 2–5). Jesus did not say that God’s people are like this woman; in fact, He said just the opposite. Because we are not like her, we should be encouraged in our praying. He argued from the lesser to the greater: “If a poor widow got what she deserved from a selfish judge, how much more will God’s children receive what is right from a loving Heavenly Father!”

The woman had no friend at court to help get her case on the docket. All she could do was walk around outside the tent and make a nuisance of herself as she shouted at the judge.

But when Christian believers pray, they have in heaven a Saviour who is Advocate (1 John 2:1) and High Priest (Heb. 2:17–18), who constantly represents them before the throne of God.

When we pray, we can open the Word and claim the many promises of God, but the widow had no promises that she could claim as she tried to convince the judge to hear her case.

We not only have God’s unfailing promises, but we also have the Holy Spirit, who assists us in our praying (Rom. 8:26–27).

Romans 8:26–27 NKJV

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Church, perhaps the greatest contrast is that the widow came to a court of law, but God’s children come to a throne of grace (Heb. 4:14–16). We talked about this earlier today:

Hebrews 4:14–16 NKJV

This widow pled out of her poverty, but we have all of God’s riches available to us to meet our every need:

Philippians 4:19 NKJV

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

The point is clear: if we fail to pray, our condition spiritually will be just like that of the poor widow. That should encourage us to pray!

3. The judge contrasted with the Father (vv. 6–8).

Unless you see that Jesus is pointing out contrasts, you will get the idea that God must be “argued” or “bribed” into answering prayer!

God is not like this judge; for God is a loving Father, who is attentive to our every cry, generous in His gifts, concerned about our needs, and ready to answer when we call.

The only reason the judge helped the widow was because he was afraid she would “weary” him, which literally means “give me a black eye”—i.e., ruin his reputation.

God answers prayer for His glory and for our good, and He is not annoyed when we come.

How, then, do we explain delays in answers to prayer, especially when Jesus said that God would “avenge [give them justice] speedily”? (Luke 18:8)

Church, remember that God’s delays are not the delays of inactivity but of preparation fo whaat is to come:

God is always answering prayer, otherwise Romans 8:28 could not be in the Bible.

Romans 8:28–29 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

God works in all things at all times, causing all things to work together to accomplish His purposes.

The moment we send Him a request that is in His will (see 1 John 5:14–15), God begins to work. We may not see it now, but one day the answer will come.

So church, be persistent in prayer, seek the Lord while he may be found, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you!

How is your prayer life? Is it dry, is it not, or is it thriving?

Paul is not asking us to pray church, he has giving us an imperative to pray.

Prayer not only changes things, but it changes us!

Prayer

Announcements

Are there any announcements?

We are looking for a few people that would be willing to step up and clean the church. This takes about an hour or less a week to do. If you are interested, please reach out to me.

On Wednesday, the rest of the bushes will be coming down. After they are down, we will grind the stumps and then beatify that area.

An evening of worship is this Tuesday HERE AT THE CHURCH at:

Benediction

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

May we become known as a church that is devoted to prayer, may we pray more this week, than in weeks past, may we ask God to make us prayer warriors!

Next week we we continue our teaching on the being vigilant in prayer and thankful.

THE LORD BLESS YOU!

YOUR MISSION STARTS NOW!

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