Praying Well: Colossians 4.2-4 (ESV)

 In the past year we have been concerned about how to stay connected to people, to church, to our families and to our friends.  Today, on Valentine's Day we are reminded we want to be connected to the people we love.  As kids we passed out Valentine cards to our class as an expression of caring.  We have love for one another because God first loved us.  God sent His son into the world for us, Jesus was resurrected for us.  How do we stay connected to God?  Colossians 4:2-4 will help us today.  

Keep talking to God.

    As we talk to God we have questions about how we get through times like these.  The church at Colossae had challenges and so do we.  The church at Colossae is similar to us today.  They had a good economy, good jobs and people would travel to their area.  People enjoyed living there.  Believers were in the minority in their community.  It was difficult.  How do we serve God in a world where most people aren't believers? You might be surprised to learn that most people here in Randolph County do not go to church.  Before COVID, 80% of our county did not attend church.  We are pretty sure not gotten better since COVID.  Most people that live here do not go to church.  I tell you that because we have the answers.  How should we respond?  What do we do when we live in a culture that's not Christian?  The early church wondered the same thing, how do we connect?

                        ²Continue steadfastly in prayer,

 Continue means to be loyal and steadfastly means diligently.  It means to hang in there and continue in prayer.  Prayer was important in the early church.  How do they reach the community around them when their community isn't Christian?  The answer Paul gives is shocking to us.  We are to pray and to keep praying.  Prayer is important.  Jesus prayed.  The disciples would go look for Jesus and find him in prayer.  The early church prayed in Acts 12:5 when Peter was in prison. God shows up and rescues him from prison.  Peter is set free and he goes to Mary's house where they are praying for Peter to be released.  They understood the importance of prayer.  What should we be giving our time to?  Prayer is the answer to that tug we feel in our hearts.  When we feel a desire to pray God is nudging us and wants to connect with us.  We should be open to these Kingdom nudges.

Be open to Kingdom nudges.

            being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 

 To be watchful is to be on guard duty, to work the night shift.  It's tough to stay awake.  The job is to watch what's going on and to be aware of what's happening.  You might have been surprised earlier to learn that so few people attend church in our county?  We assume most people go to church but reality is they do not.  This is true as well nationwide.  We have kind of gone asleep.  There's a great need for the Gospel to go out.  We are called to see what's happening.  

Years ago I coached a team of 5 year olds in basketball.  We were doing a drill in practice where they were lined up along the foul line and we instructed them to pass the ball to each other.  During this task they'd lose attention and look away.  The kids were catching the ball and passing it back and forth and BAM!  Someone got hit in the face!  Two minutes later and it happened again!  We can stay focused.  In Matthew 26 Jesus is in the garden with the disciples and he asks them to watch and pray.   We have a tendency to fall asleep just like the disciples did.  We too move away from what matters.  This comes because of a lack of prayer.  Nudges are opportunities to walk with God.  God gives us the opportunity to see how He is working in the world.  

See what God is doing through others.

We are given the invitation to intercede on behalf of others.  
                        ³At the same time, pray also for us,

 This is a tremendous statement from Paul.  Paul's been very successful.  Even Paul was dependent on prayer and on God.  We need to Holy Spirit poured out upon people.  Paul wanted people to be praying for his team as they went out.  The reason we have mission moments, we'll have one today, is to prompt us to pray.  We pray when we see how the Word of God is going out.  We are praying for God to open doors.  Paul asked them to pray for open doors.  Open doors are opportunities to share the Gospel.

Pray for open doors.

            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—

 Notice in the last part of this verse that Paul is in prison.  He's praying for a door to open, not to be set free, but for an opportunity for the Gospel to go forth.  He wants to share the Gospel.  The Gospel is what people need more than they need better financial circumstances.  People need the hope we have in Jesus.  Jesus died in our place.  If we trust Jesus to forgive us and to give us new life Paul says we should be praying for open doors and opportunities to share the Gospel.  What's it feel like to run into a closed door?  Some of our prayer requests are for a door to open.  

Not too long ago we had missionaries with us; they stayed in Robin's Nest, our mission house.  They were called to a country that was closed.  They asked us to pray for that door to open and 2 weeks ago that door opened.  Now they're in their place of service.  We have seen God open doors.

We have been looking at the 7 churches in Revelation on Wednesday nights.  Worth Younts taught about the church in Philadelphia this past week.  He reminded us that God opens doors that nobody can close!  Amen?!?!  What doors need to be opened in your life?  We know what it's like to have family, coworkers and friends who don't know God.  There's nothing more important than sharing the Gospel.  Let's pray for open doors above all things and when the door opens, Paul says to pray he will do what he's called to do.  

Pray that the hope of the gospel is clear.

                        ⁴that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Paul's prayer is that he will clearly present the Gospel.  Paul is a majority writer of the New Testament.  One reason we don't share is we think we won't get it right.  Even Paul asked churches to pray that he will communicate clearly.  This is a good prayer for us as well.  Let's pray God will use us to "unveil the Gospel" so others will understand.  Sometimes instructions aren't clear.  A few weeks ago I was putting together a desk and the instructions didn't make any sense.  I noticed one of the pages was thicker than the others and then I saw two pages were stuck together.  When I pried them apart it finally made sense to me.   We should pray the mystery of the Gospel will be understood.  We need to pray this.  We need to pray we will focus on this.  We have so many distractions in our lives.  It's so easy to get distracted.  It's easy to think about so many needs we have in this world we can miss the reason we are here.  Let's pray the Gospel will be clear.  Our mission is to share the Gospel with the nations.  Our mission at First Baptist is to proclaim the Gospel.  This call is for every believer and it's what God calls our hearts back to.  If we're not sharing the Gospel we're not praying about sharing the Gospel.  We rarely share if we haven't been praying.  Church - this is what we are here for!  It is time for us to come to the heart of why we are here: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is our moment, our opportunity, and it's how our country can be transformed.  What doors need to be opened?  Who needs to hear the Gospel?  God, lay someone on our heart this morning that needs to know You.

Sermon by Dr. Scotty Carpenter.  Sermon Notes by Jeni Martin Johnson.