WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.400 If you have your Bibles, let's go to the book of Colossians chapter 4, and we're going to look at verses 2 through 6. 00:00:08.919 --> 00:00:11.859 Colossians chapter 4, verses 2 through 6. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:16.019 I had the privilege last week of preaching in the church. 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:18.300 I pastored for 25 years. They invited me back. 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:22.260 The pastor was on vacation, and he had begun a study in Colossians. 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:24.820 And he had gotten to chapter 4 and verse 2, and he said, 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.800 Ralph, would you mind when you fill in, just continue the study? 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:31.580 So I did that, and after I prepared the message and preached it there, 00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:36.480 I thought, you know, this would be a good message to begin at First Baptist Pickens with, 00:00:36.539 --> 00:00:40.439 because it kind of tells us what we need to be about as a church and as individuals. 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:42.399 So I'm going to start there this morning. 00:00:42.820 --> 00:00:45.560 Because we haven't been engaged in the study of Colossians, 00:00:45.859 --> 00:00:48.700 I'm going to take just a couple of minutes and go back and give you a little background 00:00:48.700 --> 00:00:53.040 so that you'll kind of know exactly where we are when we come to this passage today. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:58.799 This is a church that Paul, believe it or not, has never visited. 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:00.659 He didn't plant this church. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.180 You know, most of the churches he writes to are churches he's previously been. 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:06.180 He's visited. He's won some people to Christ. 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:09.079 They formed a church. He writes them and gives them advice. 00:01:09.180 --> 00:01:10.960 Well, this is one he had never visited. 00:01:11.759 --> 00:01:15.159 Epaphras is apparently the one who started the church, planted the church, 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:17.840 and then has become a friend of Paul. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:24.020 And he's gone to Paul in prison in Rome in order to try to encourage Paul. 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:27.620 But while he's there, he seizes the opportunity in what Pastor Wooden 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:29.260 to sit down with one as great as Paul and say, 00:01:29.320 --> 00:01:34.560 Paul, I'm Patrick over in Colossae, and here's some problems that we've encountered. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:38.719 So he tells them about two problems, and he addresses those in chapter 1 and 2. 00:01:39.080 --> 00:01:41.500 The first problem is who Jesus is. 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:43.300 Believe it or not, they were confused about that. 00:01:43.659 --> 00:01:46.040 Some had come in and tried to teach false teachings, 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:49.820 and they were not certain, is he fully man and not God, 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:52.600 or fully God and not man, or is he both? 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.920 And so Paul settles that question in chapter 1, a brilliant discourse, 00:01:57.320 --> 00:02:00.500 where he says, here's exactly who Jesus is. 00:02:00.580 --> 00:02:03.260 If you haven't read it, go read the last half of chapter 1. 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:07.440 He gets to chapter 2, and he addresses another problem Paphras told him about. 00:02:07.900 --> 00:02:11.460 These people had come from a pagan background, some from a Jewish background, 00:02:11.460 --> 00:02:18.280 and they were wanting to incorporate practices of their earlier lifestyle in the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:21.280 And Paul just simply says, hey, that's not good. 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:22.140 You can't do that. 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:24.020 Here's how you need to worship. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:28.740 When you get to chapter 3, and I've got to say, of all the chapters in the Bible, 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:32.740 if I had to pick just one chapter, if I was being sent into exile, 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:38.960 Colossians 3 is the chapter I'm absolutely positive I would take with me into exile. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:39.860 And here's why. 00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:44.460 It tells us how to live effectively for Christ. 00:02:44.740 --> 00:02:46.320 And this is how it begins in chapter 3. 00:02:46.659 --> 00:02:49.480 He says, keep your eyes on things above. 00:02:49.920 --> 00:02:51.740 Boy, it's hard to do that, isn't it? 00:02:51.920 --> 00:02:56.120 We get to mixing and meaningly with people on this earth and with the ways of the world, 00:02:56.200 --> 00:02:57.800 and they're so contrary to the ways of God. 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:00.980 Paul just says, keep your eyes on things above. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:02.100 Think heavenly thoughts. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:03.500 Think about spiritual things. 00:03:03.939 --> 00:03:05.219 Build your life around that. 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.760 And then he moves to things we need to stop doing. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:09.899 In fact, he uses a strong word. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:11.479 The Hallman translates it this way. 00:03:11.959 --> 00:03:13.639 Put to death these things. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:15.479 That's pretty fine when you put something to death. 00:03:15.859 --> 00:03:19.179 He says, take off these evil practices and evil attitudes, 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:21.899 and then put on the character of a Christian. 00:03:22.219 --> 00:03:23.780 And he describes that in chapter 3. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:24.759 It's a beautiful passage. 00:03:25.620 --> 00:03:28.299 We'll look at it sometime out here in the future in all likelihood. 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.859 And he says, put on compassion and joy and patience. 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:34.139 Be forgiving with one another and understanding. 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.479 Don't go off getting your feelings hurt so quickly. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:39.199 Just a beautiful passage about how we're to live. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:42.780 At the close of chapter 3, he turns to relationships. 00:03:43.079 --> 00:03:47.339 And he says, when you know Jesus, it impacts how you get along with others. 00:03:47.459 --> 00:03:49.139 How husbands and wives get along. 00:03:49.459 --> 00:03:51.039 How parents and children get along. 00:03:51.339 --> 00:03:53.579 How people in the marketplace get along. 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:56.859 Now we come to chapter 4 and verse 2. 00:03:57.299 --> 00:03:59.099 And here's how Paul's going to wind this up. 00:03:59.579 --> 00:04:04.039 He's going to say, now I've outlined in chapter 3 this beautiful life in Jesus. 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:07.859 Now let me just tell you, if you're not familiar with chapter 3, go read it this afternoon. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:12.419 When you read that, you'll come away saying, that's how I want to live as a believer. 00:04:12.579 --> 00:04:18.839 I can't imagine any genuine believer not reading chapter 3 and saying, I want to live just like that. 00:04:19.339 --> 00:04:20.480 Here's a million dollar question. 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:25.920 How do you live such a noble, godly, kingdom kind of life? 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:31.319 And Paul gives us two words of advice here in chapter 4, verses 2 to 6. 00:04:31.620 --> 00:04:32.680 And I'm going to tell you my outline. 00:04:32.780 --> 00:04:35.220 I'm going to let the cat out of the bag this morning before I even preach it. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.180 Here are the two things you need to focus on. 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:40.939 He says, you need to always rely on God. 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:42.439 And boy, that's true, isn't it? 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:47.400 Have you ever tried to live the Christian life without really having God to help you through it? 00:04:47.660 --> 00:04:50.460 You just think I can modify my life a little bit. 00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:51.240 I'll do this. 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:52.080 I'll go to church. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:56.419 He says that one word, you've got to rely on the power of God. 00:04:56.839 --> 00:05:05.099 And secondly, you've got to always remind yourself 24-7, 365 days a year, you are on mission. 00:05:05.860 --> 00:05:07.060 Now, that's hard to do, isn't it? 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:09.899 I want to tell you, in my own life, I found this. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.620 It's easy on Sunday morning to be thinking about the things of God. 00:05:14.339 --> 00:05:20.680 But Monday, about 10 o'clock, if you're someone who works in an office, you know, well, it can get tough. 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:22.920 It can be trying, can't it, when everything's going wrong. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.540 Or when you're on that date on Friday night. 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:26.939 Pretty easy to forget, man. 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:29.579 I'm a child of God, and I'm here on mission. 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:33.019 Or when you and your spouse have a disagreement about something. 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:38.699 Boy, it's amazing how people who are officers of the church, Sunday school teachers, pastors, 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:45.240 we can just in that moment almost forget, I've got a relationship with Christ that guides this relationship. 00:05:46.139 --> 00:05:47.819 So, let's see what Paul has to say. 00:05:47.819 --> 00:05:49.420 Look with me to chapter 4. 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:51.240 We're going to begin in verse 2. 00:05:51.699 --> 00:05:54.659 And I'm going to be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:56.420 And there are a lot of good texts out there. 00:05:56.500 --> 00:05:57.680 The ESV is a great text. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:02.079 I've chosen to read from the Holman this morning because of how it deals with verse 42. 00:06:02.740 --> 00:06:05.240 Most of your Bibles probably begin something like this. 00:06:05.300 --> 00:06:09.639 It says, continue or continue steadfastly in prayer, right? 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:11.500 Well, here's how the Holman puts it. 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.899 Devote yourselves to prayer. 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:22.500 I don't know about you, but I like that because the word devote is one of those words that's a graphic word. 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:25.479 That's not a word we just sling around. 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:28.060 You know the word love, we find a lot of applications. 00:06:28.219 --> 00:06:29.159 I love apple pie. 00:06:29.339 --> 00:06:30.259 I love my car. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:31.219 I love my wife. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.000 This word devote, we just use it in certain situations. 00:06:35.179 --> 00:06:36.259 I want you to think about it for a minute. 00:06:36.259 --> 00:06:43.740 We use it when a husband or wife, have you ever seen somebody sit faithfully by the bedside of somebody who had some critical disease? 00:06:43.860 --> 00:06:45.180 Maybe they have Alzheimer's. 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:49.439 And that person who loves them, they just keep going back day after day after day. 00:06:49.539 --> 00:06:50.519 And they're so faithful. 00:06:50.740 --> 00:06:51.500 What do we say about that? 00:06:51.719 --> 00:06:53.860 Men, they're devoted to their spouse. 00:06:54.259 --> 00:06:57.199 And we've all seen moms or dads who have a sick child. 00:06:57.620 --> 00:06:59.060 And men, they hold them in their arms. 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:01.180 They'll sit there all night long in a rocking chair. 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:05.959 And they're constantly taking their temperature and giving them medicine, doing everything they can for that child. 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:08.100 We say that's a devoted parent. 00:07:08.400 --> 00:07:13.699 Or those firemen who rush into a building that's ablaze while other people are rushing out. 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:14.519 You know why they do that? 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:16.240 Because they're devoted. 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:18.939 I mean, they've given their lives to saving lives. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:20.800 And so they're devoted to the task. 00:07:21.220 --> 00:07:22.680 We're getting ready to have the Olympics. 00:07:22.860 --> 00:07:23.300 I don't know about you. 00:07:23.319 --> 00:07:24.160 I look forward to that. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:31.140 These are typically young men and women who started as children in a particular sport. 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:36.260 And they've developed their skills to now they're some of the best athletes in the world. 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:37.320 And I want you to think about this. 00:07:37.640 --> 00:07:43.020 For the last four years especially, they've given themselves to preparing for the Olympics. 00:07:43.580 --> 00:07:48.100 They get up in the morning and they go to bed at night thinking about their sport. 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:50.560 They do it many, many hours a day. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:51.360 And why? 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:51.439 Why? 00:07:51.840 --> 00:07:58.540 All to stand on the platform at the end of the competition for about two minutes and have the national anthem of their country play. 00:07:58.699 --> 00:07:59.460 That's pretty making. 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:01.139 That's devotion, right? 00:08:01.900 --> 00:08:03.060 What are you devoted to? 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:12.800 I bet this morning if we just stopped and we went person to person to person, not everybody in the room, but a lot of you in this room, you would say, you know what? 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:14.439 There's something I'm devoted to. 00:08:14.520 --> 00:08:15.740 I'm devoted to my family. 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:17.720 I'm devoted to my job. 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:19.980 Some of you are devoted to your church. 00:08:20.460 --> 00:08:21.319 What are you devoted to? 00:08:22.220 --> 00:08:30.520 Back on September the 29th, 2016, it was six months before I retired, my daughter Angela gave me a Fitbit. 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:32.620 I didn't know a Fitbit from Adam. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:35.680 She said, Dad, if you'll put this on, it'll track your steps. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:36.800 I said, well, I already know. 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:37.500 I don't get many. 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.460 She said, but if you'll put this on, it'll track them for you. 00:08:41.580 --> 00:08:43.039 And I said, why would I want to track them? 00:08:43.060 --> 00:08:45.300 She said, because you ought to be walking so many steps a day. 00:08:45.700 --> 00:08:46.680 I said, well, how many steps? 00:08:46.680 --> 00:08:48.240 She said, well, go to the computer and find out. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:48.980 So I went online. 00:08:49.340 --> 00:08:52.659 The American Heart Association recommends you get 10,000 steps a day. 00:08:52.659 --> 00:08:54.620 So she gave me the gift. 00:08:54.759 --> 00:08:57.740 And out of gratitude, I decided, well, let's just give it a whirl. 00:08:58.059 --> 00:09:00.159 I'll try today to get 10,000 steps. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:02.779 Well, about 10 o'clock that night, I was kind of proud of myself. 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:03.259 I looked down. 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:04.939 I had 10,000 steps. 00:09:05.059 --> 00:09:06.919 I'd walk more than I'd have walked in a long, long time. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:08.579 But I got my 10,000 steps. 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:11.240 So the next morning, I got up, and I thought, you know what? 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:13.820 I think I can do that two days in a row. 00:09:13.900 --> 00:09:14.480 I'll just see. 00:09:15.160 --> 00:09:16.320 So I walked some that morning. 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:17.560 I walked some after lunch. 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:18.820 And I walked some late in the afternoon. 00:09:18.920 --> 00:09:19.840 I walked some that night. 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:21.139 And guess what? 00:09:21.180 --> 00:09:24.220 At the end of day, too, I had 10,000 steps on my watch. 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:27.139 And I did that for a week and then a month. 00:09:27.580 --> 00:09:31.020 And I thought, you know, wouldn't it be interesting if I could do this for six months? 00:09:31.300 --> 00:09:35.800 And so six months without missing a day, I was now retired, and I'm still walking. 00:09:35.920 --> 00:09:37.400 I'm so proud of myself. 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:40.079 And then all of a sudden, I've developed an AFib problem. 00:09:40.179 --> 00:09:41.279 They had to put me in the hospital. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.259 And they shocked my heart three times in one day, right? 00:09:44.579 --> 00:09:47.019 Got me there with medicines trying to regulate things. 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:49.679 And I asked the doctor, can I walk and do this? 00:09:49.699 --> 00:09:50.179 And he said, yeah. 00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:52.819 I've got my 10,000 steps even in the hospital. 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:57.279 I mean, about the fourth day I'm there, I'm making laps around the interior of the hospital. 00:09:57.340 --> 00:09:59.840 And I passed this nurse for about the 10th time. 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:02.259 And she says, man, you are a walking fool. 00:10:02.699 --> 00:10:05.319 And I got my 10,000 steps in. 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:11.720 When I had walked for 1,000 days in a row without missing a day, my children had a party for them at our house. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:16.180 And they gave me a box with 1,000 dimes and said, go buy yourself a pair of new tennis shoes, right? 00:10:17.040 --> 00:10:18.820 I've walked now for five years. 00:10:19.540 --> 00:10:24.860 Only this last year after some minor surgery did the doctor say, you've got to stop walking for just a few days. 00:10:25.060 --> 00:10:28.879 The only days I've missed in nearly five years. 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:29.500 Can I tell you something? 00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:31.620 I am devoted to walking. 00:10:32.179 --> 00:10:36.840 Now, before you get all excited or say, well, that guy's bright, I'm telling you for a reason. 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:39.139 It's to my shame. 00:10:40.019 --> 00:10:40.919 And here's the shame. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:43.460 I've been preaching 50 years. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:45.059 I've been a believer since I was 14. 00:10:46.059 --> 00:10:49.700 And there's never been a time in my life, believe me, I pray regularly. 00:10:49.700 --> 00:10:51.700 And I pray with passion. 00:10:52.900 --> 00:10:56.360 And I pray for people I know and for a lot of different things. 00:10:57.060 --> 00:11:04.080 But I can't honestly stand here and tell you I have ever been as devoted to praying as I have been to walk in these past five years. 00:11:04.820 --> 00:11:05.379 Isn't that a shame? 00:11:06.300 --> 00:11:07.300 But I want to tell you something. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:08.740 It's not just a shame for a preacher. 00:11:09.379 --> 00:11:16.100 It's a shame for anybody who knows Jesus who says, I'm going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ to think that you can live this life 00:11:16.100 --> 00:11:19.160 and not be in constant communication with God. 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:20.460 Isn't that right? 00:11:21.259 --> 00:11:22.540 Are you devoted to prayer? 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:32.040 If somebody had a videotape on you, if they put one of these pro cams or whatever it is on you and they followed your steps every day, 00:11:32.640 --> 00:11:34.660 well, at the end of the day, they conclude this. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:35.080 You know what? 00:11:35.180 --> 00:11:40.720 That guy or gal, that man or that woman, that's somebody who is devoted to prayer. 00:11:41.640 --> 00:11:43.420 I want you to notice what else he says about prayer. 00:11:43.420 --> 00:11:48.220 He says, devote yourselves to prayer and stay alert. 00:11:49.700 --> 00:11:50.420 Stay alert. 00:11:50.560 --> 00:11:53.820 And he's talking about stay alert in the context of prayer and in living. 00:11:54.520 --> 00:11:54.960 Stay alert. 00:11:55.040 --> 00:11:56.220 Now, why would he tell us that? 00:11:57.220 --> 00:12:01.680 I think because Paul recognizes it's hard for people to stay focused. 00:12:02.540 --> 00:12:07.540 It's hard for people to stay alert, to stay awake, to stay attentive. 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:12.139 If you'll think about it, you'll kind of probably agree with me in that, won't you? 00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:19.899 I mean, did you, like me, ever get notes sent home by your teacher when you were a kid that said he needs to pay closer attention? 00:12:20.699 --> 00:12:23.639 He talks a little too much and listens a little bit too little. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:25.740 Do you ever have a note sent home to your teacher? 00:12:25.839 --> 00:12:29.139 Like, my teachers, you send them pretty regularly to my house, right? 00:12:29.599 --> 00:12:31.439 He needs to pay better attention. 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:33.960 And do you ever fall asleep in church? 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:35.140 Wake up that guy back there. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:36.160 No, I'm just kidding. 00:12:37.620 --> 00:12:39.520 We have trouble paying attention, don't we? 00:12:40.060 --> 00:12:41.420 I mean, we really and truly do. 00:12:41.800 --> 00:12:43.120 So Paul says stay on alert. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:44.000 Here's why. 00:12:44.460 --> 00:12:47.460 Our world is changing at warp speed. 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:49.160 Have you noticed that lately? 00:12:49.880 --> 00:12:52.260 I mean, it's not changing the way it did when I was a boy. 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:54.560 You might go 10 years and there'd be some change. 00:12:55.260 --> 00:12:58.680 Or when I was a young adult, you might go five years and there'd be some change. 00:12:58.679 --> 00:13:02.259 Or politically, you might notice the landscape is changing the last decade. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:03.500 Can I tell you? 00:13:03.819 --> 00:13:06.500 It's changing almost hour by hour. 00:13:07.319 --> 00:13:12.839 I mean, can you imagine in the last 20 years the change politically that has occurred? 00:13:13.199 --> 00:13:18.819 If our grandpas woke up from the dead, they wouldn't recognize the United States of America, right? 00:13:19.479 --> 00:13:20.259 It's so changed. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:24.779 We need to spiritually be alert and we need to stay in tune with God in prayer. 00:13:24.779 --> 00:13:28.059 And then he says, pray with thanksgiving. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:30.299 Pray with thanksgiving. 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:40.000 If this morning we could capture your prayer list for the last 30 days, everything that you prayed about for the last 30, I hope it'd be a long list. 00:13:40.719 --> 00:13:41.779 But I want to ask you something. 00:13:42.439 --> 00:13:51.159 How many of those things on that prayer list would be a request versus how many of those things would be a moment of praise or thanksgiving? 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:53.919 Isn't it amazing how much we ask God for? 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:55.839 The older I get, I've got to be honest with you. 00:13:55.879 --> 00:14:00.419 I said a moment ago I pray on a regular basis every morning, every night, during the day. 00:14:00.779 --> 00:14:04.959 But I want to tell you, a lot of my prayer is consumed for friends who are sick. 00:14:05.199 --> 00:14:07.679 Because the older I get, the older my friends get. 00:14:07.740 --> 00:14:09.779 The people I know the best, the older they get. 00:14:09.979 --> 00:14:11.539 The more difficulties they have. 00:14:11.539 --> 00:14:19.779 And I find I'm spending lots and lots of time lifting up people who have cancer and who have needs and praying for them and their families. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.879 He says we need to make sure we give thanks. 00:14:23.019 --> 00:14:23.620 Do you do that? 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:25.059 I've got a little grandson. 00:14:25.219 --> 00:14:26.099 I want you to meet him sometime. 00:14:26.219 --> 00:14:26.899 His name is Charlie. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:27.639 He's three years old. 00:14:27.879 --> 00:14:29.500 He can tear up an anvil, right? 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:32.240 I mean, this kid just, he is wired. 00:14:33.220 --> 00:14:42.120 When he was about two, we started telling him, his mom, his dad, me and Regina, our daughter, every time we'd see him, we'd say, if somebody gave him something, we'd say, like all of you, you know what you'd say, right? 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:43.600 What do you say to him? 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:45.840 And that was his cue to say, thank you. 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:48.840 And if he didn't know, sometimes he'd look at me like a deer in the headlight. 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:49.740 I don't know what I'd say. 00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:50.320 You got more? 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:50.740 You know? 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:52.639 I'd say, what are you saying? 00:14:52.679 --> 00:14:54.100 And he'd say, thank you. 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:56.919 And he'd make you so pleased that he would know that. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:58.080 But you know what worries me? 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:03.580 I've got a feeling my grandson Charlie remembers to say thank you better than a lot of us do to God. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:11.460 Can you think of things in this last week you prayed about, but you never got back to say, God, thank you for doing whatever it is you did in my life. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.340 Look at verse three. 00:15:14.300 --> 00:15:25.220 At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message to speak the mystery of the Messiah. 00:15:25.220 --> 00:15:32.540 So Paul gets around now to saying, here's what I'd like you to engage in prayer for about me. 00:15:33.500 --> 00:15:37.320 Now, you've already read that verse, but if you hadn't read the verse, let me ask you. 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:44.320 What do you think, just knowing what I've told you so far about Colossians, where he is, he's in prison. 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.700 What do you think he might have asked them to pray with him about? 00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:58.020 I'm guessing if Ralph was in prison, or you were in prison, at the top of our list would be, get me out of here, right? 00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:01.220 Pray that I will be acquitted. 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.360 Pray that I'll be well treated. 00:16:05.420 --> 00:16:07.340 Pray that they'll soon let me go. 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:11.660 Pray that God will open the prison gates and let me out. 00:16:11.659 --> 00:16:14.659 Now, you can take my word for this if you haven't read the book. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:19.980 You can start in chapter one, verse one, and read through chapter four, the last verse, and you know what? 00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:25.299 Not even a single time will Paul ever mention that. 00:16:26.259 --> 00:16:29.779 Not one time is he going to say, as I would have said so many times, 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:34.740 hey, when you're praying, pray I soon get out of this place. 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:36.759 It's not a good place to be. 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:40.279 Nobody wants to be in prison, but he never ever prays that. 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:45.959 What he prays for and asks them to pray for is for an open door of evangelism. 00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:51.659 Pray that God will open the door for me to share the mystery of the Messiah. 00:16:52.939 --> 00:16:54.919 Now, let's just be honest this morning. 00:16:55.879 --> 00:17:01.179 Nobody's been listening in on your prayers, but how often do you pray for anything evangelistic? 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:06.599 If you're like a lot of us, you pray for your children, and for your spouse, 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:13.819 and about your job, and about church, and church work, and about a variety of things, 00:17:13.899 --> 00:17:15.779 maybe for the nation and our president. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.980 But how many of us ever get around and say, Lord, I want to be a witness for you. 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:22.379 I want to share the mystery of the Messiah with somebody out there. 00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:24.279 Would you open the door for me to do that? 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:27.459 And how many of us ever prayed that for our church? 00:17:28.059 --> 00:17:29.679 I mean, you pray your church will meet the budget. 00:17:29.819 --> 00:17:30.899 You pray attendance will be good. 00:17:30.959 --> 00:17:31.859 You pray for your pastor. 00:17:31.939 --> 00:17:32.679 You pray for your staff. 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:34.840 But how many of us ever say, Lord, you know what? 00:17:35.120 --> 00:17:37.519 First Baptist Pickens is here for a reason. 00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:41.420 We don't exist just to get along with each other. 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:43.980 We don't exist just to minister to each other. 00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:48.480 Lord, we're on a mission, and that mission is to see this community come to know Christ. 00:17:48.779 --> 00:17:50.620 Do you ever pray for those open opportunities? 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:59.320 The date was December 31, 1976, and it's a Saturday night about 11 o'clock. 00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:01.700 I remember exactly where I was. 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:07.960 I was in Glen Watts Lake House on Lake Norman in Troutman, North Carolina, and the following 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:11.759 morning, I was going to become the pastor of Western Avenue Baptist Church. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:13.900 I was going to preach my first sermon as their pastor. 00:18:14.900 --> 00:18:16.160 My wife had gone to bed. 00:18:16.259 --> 00:18:21.080 My daughter had gone to bed, and I purposefully waited for all of them to get out of the way, 00:18:21.180 --> 00:18:25.480 and I just knelt there in that living room, and I remember almost word for word what I prayed, 00:18:25.600 --> 00:18:27.240 because I just prayed the same prayer over and over. 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:29.200 I poured my heart out to God. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:29.940 I just cried. 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:30.480 I wept. 00:18:31.120 --> 00:18:35.460 And I said, God, I surrendered to preach when I was 14, and I've been training in college, 00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:39.380 and I've been training in seminary, and I've done some staff work, and I pastored a small 00:18:39.380 --> 00:18:42.700 little church out in Texas, and it was just part-time. 00:18:43.539 --> 00:18:49.500 And God, I really have a heart to see the world come to know you, but I haven't been very effective 00:18:49.500 --> 00:18:55.039 at it, and would you, Lord, when I start this work in the morning, would you allow me to 00:18:55.039 --> 00:19:00.200 get into people's homes and be able to face men face-to-face and ask them about their relationship 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:06.180 with Christ and try to tell them about you and hope that your spirit moves on their heart 00:19:06.180 --> 00:19:07.480 and brings them to faith? 00:19:08.339 --> 00:19:09.660 I begged them to do that. 00:19:10.539 --> 00:19:12.059 The following morning, I preached. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.200 That afternoon, I participated in my first funeral. 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:18.220 Two days later, I went into a man's home by the name of Kenneth Pierce. 00:19:19.340 --> 00:19:23.120 Kenneth had visited our church just to hear a concert coming to his wife. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:23.720 She was a believer. 00:19:23.819 --> 00:19:24.299 He wasn't. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:28.420 So I went up to his house, took a friend of mine, Delmas Ferguson, with me, a guy who 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:33.100 became one of my closest friends in life, and I just asked Ken about his salvation. 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:34.360 He said, no, he wasn't a believer. 00:19:34.900 --> 00:19:40.259 I went through the plan of salvation, and Ken Pierce received Christ, and he came and was 00:19:40.259 --> 00:19:41.240 the first one I baptized. 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:47.579 I honored that promise to God for 15 years. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.339 Every home I got in, I'd look at people, and I'd ask them, have you come to the place 00:19:53.339 --> 00:19:57.019 in your spiritual life that you know for certain if you died today, you'd go to heaven? 00:19:57.779 --> 00:20:01.559 And anybody who would give me the opportunity, I presented the gospel. 00:20:02.019 --> 00:20:03.440 I didn't do it with a lot of skill. 00:20:03.620 --> 00:20:05.000 I just did the best I could do. 00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:06.440 But I want to tell you something. 00:20:06.539 --> 00:20:07.779 God blessed that prayer. 00:20:07.779 --> 00:20:15.019 And over those 15 years, I led hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people to faith in 00:20:15.019 --> 00:20:19.960 Christ and taught a couple hundred other people how to go into homes and do the same thing. 00:20:20.259 --> 00:20:23.379 And God just poured out his spirit, and we had a wonderful time. 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:25.399 Now, there's a reason I'm telling you that. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:26.700 It's not to boast or brag. 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:29.039 I'm telling you that for this reason. 00:20:29.840 --> 00:20:34.519 In all those years, in all those homes, it would have been somewhere in the low thousands, 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:35.080 I'm sure. 00:20:36.080 --> 00:20:39.680 You know how many times somebody ever looked at me and said, when I asked that first question, 00:20:39.779 --> 00:20:42.980 and they answered, and I started to tell them the gospel. 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:46.580 You know how many people ever looked at me and said, I don't want to hear it. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:48.819 Don't share your faith with me. 00:20:48.860 --> 00:20:50.240 You know how many times I ever got told no? 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.539 One time in all those years. 00:20:53.740 --> 00:20:55.099 Not all those people received Christ. 00:20:55.220 --> 00:20:57.680 Some very politely said, no, I'm not ready to receive Christ. 00:20:57.819 --> 00:20:58.400 That's okay. 00:20:59.420 --> 00:21:01.920 But only one time did anybody ever tell me no. 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:07.099 Almost everywhere I went, even cold turkey, door to door, people would let me in. 00:21:08.140 --> 00:21:11.839 Now, let me bring you forward from 1977 to 2021. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:17.039 Our world has radically, radically, radically changed. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:21.440 I used to keep in my car a notebook of prospects. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:26.519 And every Saturday and one day a week, I'd go out and I'd just hit those prospects. 00:21:26.980 --> 00:21:28.039 And I'd go to visit people. 00:21:28.180 --> 00:21:30.899 And I never remember people saying, you can't come into my home. 00:21:31.700 --> 00:21:35.460 When I came to pastor at Brushy Creek, it was that way for about five, six, seven years. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:42.379 But about the year 2000, I began to notice, along with a host of other pastors, all that had radically changed. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:46.220 You know what became the most difficult task I faced as a pastor at Brushy Creek? 00:21:46.220 --> 00:21:51.960 And if you were talking to Fred or Brian or other staff members, I think they'd tell you the same. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:54.299 You know what one of the most difficult tasks became? 00:21:54.980 --> 00:22:01.240 Getting information on people who come through the doors of your church to even be able to call them or go see them or visit them. 00:22:01.539 --> 00:22:03.200 I would offer to take people to dinner. 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:04.700 I'd offer to take them to lunch. 00:22:04.980 --> 00:22:06.759 I'd offer to meet them in a coffee shop. 00:22:07.059 --> 00:22:07.799 I want to tell you something. 00:22:08.120 --> 00:22:13.220 It is exponentially harder today to get into people's homes than it has ever, ever been. 00:22:13.220 --> 00:22:18.900 COVID has exponentially made that more difficult. 00:22:19.460 --> 00:22:20.360 Do you understand that? 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:27.000 We're a society now, in this country at least, I don't know about other countries, but in this country, we want to keep our distance. 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:29.100 We're fearful of each other. 00:22:29.620 --> 00:22:32.299 We want to attend, but we want to attend in anonymity. 00:22:32.860 --> 00:22:34.759 We don't want folk to know us very, very well. 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:39.299 And so if the church is going to continue to reach people, I want to tell you something. 00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:42.779 It's hard for you to envision because you've got a pretty good crowd here this morning. 00:22:43.379 --> 00:22:56.279 But 20, 30 years down the way, when a lot of our senior adults die, if we don't continue to share the gospel and find ways to interact with people and befriend people and bring them to faith in Christ, this is going to be a spiritual museum. 00:22:57.700 --> 00:22:58.799 Do you hear what I'm saying to you? 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:10.519 We'd better be praying, God, give us insight and wisdom and creativity to understand how do we engage people today with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:13.740 I can tell you in part the secret I believe lays in this. 00:23:14.019 --> 00:23:20.480 Instead of us trying to get into their homes, we're going to have to change our strategy where we say come into our home. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:30.099 And we're going to do that by not having visitation programs, but by having believers in neighborhoods get to know their neighbors and say, hey, would you come down and share a hamburger with me? 00:23:30.360 --> 00:23:32.140 And just get to know them and befriend them. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:34.579 And pretty soon you're able to share the gospel with them. 00:23:34.620 --> 00:23:42.400 Or to do that on the golf course or to do that in the office place, the marketplace, as we perform our sales responsibilities in our jobs. 00:23:43.259 --> 00:23:46.400 It's learning to take the gospel to where people are. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:57.300 Look, if you will, at something else he says in that second verse, or second verse, I think it is, the mystery of the Messiah. 00:23:58.080 --> 00:23:59.900 What is this mystery of the Messiah? 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:02.480 He's so excited about sharing. 00:24:02.560 --> 00:24:03.400 Do you know what that is? 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:05.380 Here's the mystery of the Messiah. 00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:06.420 Get this. 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:16.460 The mystery is that God is going to save us, though he is the offended one, by paying the penalty for our sin himself. 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:19.180 Who would have ever thought about it? 00:24:19.940 --> 00:24:26.120 I mean, who would have ever guessed that this God who is holy and righteous and perfect would be the one who is offended, 00:24:26.120 --> 00:24:32.980 but instead of expecting the offender to do something to save himself, he does something in our behalf. 00:24:32.980 --> 00:24:40.279 He comes in the form of a man, his son Jesus, and goes to the cross and spills his blood that we might have salvation. 00:24:40.740 --> 00:24:43.920 And listen, that's why Paul is so excited, because the world has missed it. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:46.599 The Romans think you get to God by being powerful. 00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:50.339 The Greeks think you get to God by being wise. 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:51.160 It's the intellect. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:53.799 The Jew thinks, man, I'm in by birth. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:57.400 But what Paul is saying is this, it's none of those things. 00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:02.680 It comes by rebirth, by putting faith in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:09.019 And he knows there's a world that needs to hear that message and will embrace it if they'll only be told. 00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:11.940 Now, notice what he says at the close of verse 3. 00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:12.720 I love this. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:14.860 For which I am in prison. 00:25:15.779 --> 00:25:16.880 He makes this statement. 00:25:17.820 --> 00:25:18.960 For which I am in prison. 00:25:19.140 --> 00:25:23.820 This declaring the mystery of the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:25.200 That's why I'm in prison. 00:25:26.259 --> 00:25:27.480 Here's the million dollar question. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:29.600 Why is he in prison? 00:25:29.600 --> 00:25:32.100 Is it really for preaching the gospel? 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:36.580 From man's perspective, that's certainly how it looks. 00:25:37.420 --> 00:25:43.759 And some of you, by actually knowing your Bibles, will be at a little bit of a disadvantage if you haven't studied this passage thoroughly. 00:25:43.840 --> 00:25:45.320 Because here's what you're thinking. 00:25:45.580 --> 00:25:46.880 Some of you are a pretty good Bible student. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:47.480 Say, well, wait a second. 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:48.500 I've read the book of Acts. 00:25:48.860 --> 00:25:50.060 I know why he's in prison. 00:25:50.620 --> 00:25:51.860 Remember, he goes to Jerusalem. 00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:52.719 And he preaches. 00:25:52.719 --> 00:25:54.939 And he stands up on the steps of the barracks. 00:25:55.479 --> 00:25:58.419 And the Romans have to come and rescue him because the Jewish mob is going to kill him. 00:25:58.679 --> 00:26:00.119 And they take him to Caesarea Philippi. 00:26:00.439 --> 00:26:02.099 And then later, he appeals to Caesar. 00:26:02.299 --> 00:26:03.019 And they've sent him to Rome. 00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:04.439 You say, that's why he's in jail. 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:05.339 And that's what he's saying. 00:26:05.619 --> 00:26:08.139 He's in prison for having preached the gospel. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:10.839 That's how it looks from man's perspective. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.000 But that's not even what Paul said. 00:26:13.419 --> 00:26:15.779 He's looking at this from God's perspective. 00:26:15.779 --> 00:26:20.859 And the way man looks at things and the way God looks at things can be altogether different, can't they? 00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:23.059 How many of you have ever flown an airplane? 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:24.079 Everybody here? 00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:26.019 Sometime or another, you've been up in a plane? 00:26:27.399 --> 00:26:30.480 You know the thing I notice most about flying the first time I ever flew? 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.440 How different things look from 40,000 feet. 00:26:34.299 --> 00:26:40.539 You wander through the country and you see this farm and a track of land and a lot of corn or tomatoes or soybeans. 00:26:41.399 --> 00:26:43.539 And you see another and another and another. 00:26:43.539 --> 00:26:46.039 But you just see what you can see out your windows. 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:51.940 You get up at 40,000 feet and you see the whole countryside, right? 00:26:52.139 --> 00:26:53.619 You see little boxes. 00:26:53.899 --> 00:26:54.700 That's a farm. 00:26:54.980 --> 00:26:56.940 And the changing of the soil color. 00:26:57.259 --> 00:27:00.299 And the changing of the green in the fields, right? 00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:03.159 And he just looks so different from 40,000 feet up. 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:09.980 Well, from down here on earth, those who knew Paul thought, he's in jail for having preached the gospel. 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:14.900 But from God's perspective, he's saying something else. 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:17.940 Look, if you will, at verse 4 and you'll see the key to it. 00:27:18.819 --> 00:27:24.779 So that I may reveal it as I am required to speak. 00:27:25.539 --> 00:27:28.400 He's speaking of this mystery of the Messiah. 00:27:29.180 --> 00:27:31.460 He says, I want you to pray for an open door. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:32.819 That's why I'm in prison. 00:27:33.220 --> 00:27:36.640 So that I may reveal it as I am required to speak. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:38.980 And he's thinking futuristically. 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:41.960 It's not what he has done that's landed him in prison. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:46.680 But rather God has put him in prison for what he's about to do. 00:27:47.259 --> 00:27:47.960 Do you see that? 00:27:48.259 --> 00:27:50.759 Now this means yes and no and don't know, right? 00:27:51.500 --> 00:27:52.720 Do you understand what I'm saying there? 00:27:52.800 --> 00:27:53.840 I want you to see that difference. 00:27:54.120 --> 00:27:57.200 It's not that I'm here because I have preached. 00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:00.500 I'm here because God has reassigned me. 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:07.440 He's moved me from Jerusalem to Rome because I've got another preaching assignment. 00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:10.099 And that's what I'm praying for you to open this door of opportunity about. 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:12.220 Because I'm about to preach. 00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:13.200 And who's he going to preach to? 00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:15.599 He's going to preach to fellow inmates. 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:17.779 He's going to preach to guards. 00:28:17.980 --> 00:28:18.839 And guess what? 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:19.579 Here's the big one. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:24.500 One day he's going to stand before the most powerful man on earth, the Caesar himself. 00:28:24.680 --> 00:28:26.960 And he's going to declare Jesus to that man. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:27.640 Isn't that amazing? 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:31.120 So, boy, he's in prison. 00:28:31.780 --> 00:28:33.759 But what an opportunity he's got. 00:28:34.220 --> 00:28:38.700 Who needs to hear about Jesus more than guys in prison or the Roman Caesar himself? 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:41.540 And here's a question for you. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:47.500 How many of you would like to be assigned sometime next week, next month, in the next six months, 00:28:48.080 --> 00:28:51.920 to a ministry in an oncology office? 00:28:51.920 --> 00:29:00.060 Where you go and you hang out with people who are getting treated with chemotherapy for cancer? 00:29:00.660 --> 00:29:02.560 Or they're receiving radiation? 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:09.940 Or they're a doctor or a nurse who's dealing daily with sick and dying people? 00:29:09.940 --> 00:29:15.059 How many of you would like to spend the next six, eight months of your life just rubbing shoulders in those clinics 00:29:15.059 --> 00:29:23.580 and then putting an IV in your arm and losing your hair and being deathly sick 00:29:23.580 --> 00:29:28.660 or being the spouse of somebody who carries those people to the clinics 00:29:28.660 --> 00:29:32.820 and endures that for months and months on end? 00:29:32.819 --> 00:29:38.939 And some of them have a wonderful ending and a lot of them never do. 00:29:40.539 --> 00:29:45.539 If I asked for volunteers this morning, I know already there won't be a hand go up in the room. 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:47.700 And you won't see mine either. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:49.919 But I want to tell you something. 00:29:50.419 --> 00:29:55.579 While you're enjoying life and everything's good and you're just living the dream, so to speak, 00:29:55.579 --> 00:30:00.220 the day may come that, like Paul, God says, I'm going to relocate you. 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:02.159 Well, Lord, where are you going to put me? 00:30:02.220 --> 00:30:03.000 In a bigger church? 00:30:03.379 --> 00:30:04.480 Bigger Sunday school class? 00:30:05.019 --> 00:30:05.619 Better neighborhood? 00:30:06.259 --> 00:30:06.939 Better job? 00:30:07.980 --> 00:30:08.379 No. 00:30:09.379 --> 00:30:11.919 I'm going to put you in an oncology clinic. 00:30:13.339 --> 00:30:15.939 And I want to ask you, where would you ever hope to go 00:30:15.939 --> 00:30:18.679 where you'd find more hurting people, 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:20.899 more hungry people, 00:30:21.819 --> 00:30:24.000 people who are more open to the gospel, 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:27.480 people who'd give anything to have a ray of sunshine 00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:30.299 and a ray of hope in their lives 00:30:30.299 --> 00:30:32.720 than in an oncology office? 00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:34.559 Where would it be? 00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:35.660 I don't know where it'd be. 00:30:36.779 --> 00:30:37.779 So I want to tell you something. 00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:39.799 I don't know what God has in store for you, 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:41.819 and I certainly don't know what he has in store for me. 00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:43.940 But I hope this. 00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.180 I hope if that day comes and he assigns me to that oncology clinic, 00:30:49.319 --> 00:30:51.500 that I'll recognize I've got two choices. 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:55.759 I can go screaming and kicking and angry with God 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:57.539 and shaking my fist and saying, 00:30:57.700 --> 00:30:59.880 God, why did you allow that to happen to me? 00:30:59.980 --> 00:31:01.079 Or I can say, you know what? 00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:04.059 This wasn't what I would have picked for me, 00:31:04.140 --> 00:31:04.640 but you know what? 00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:05.940 This is where God has put me. 00:31:06.700 --> 00:31:07.720 And what an opportunity. 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:12.039 What an opportunity to give people who are dying a chance of hope. 00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:15.539 People who are just as anxious as they can be. 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:17.319 Families of members who have cancer. 00:31:17.319 --> 00:31:19.500 There is anxious as they can be, 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:20.960 and I can give them a word of hope, 00:31:21.399 --> 00:31:22.980 and they're going to embrace this truth 00:31:22.980 --> 00:31:25.200 because it's a life-giving truth. 00:31:25.700 --> 00:31:25.919 Amen? 00:31:26.939 --> 00:31:29.899 You've got a choice about how you handle that. 00:31:30.859 --> 00:31:32.599 And then, secondly and finally, 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:35.759 Paul tells these Colossians 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:39.299 that every one of them need to live, 00:31:39.379 --> 00:31:41.019 not only relying on God, 00:31:41.159 --> 00:31:43.599 but constantly with the thought in mind, 00:31:43.740 --> 00:31:45.460 I am on mission. 00:31:45.460 --> 00:31:46.700 Now, what is your mission, 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:48.220 and to whom is your mission? 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:49.640 Look at verse 5. 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:53.340 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders. 00:31:54.680 --> 00:31:55.960 Now, I want to tell you, 00:31:56.180 --> 00:31:58.039 you just need to know this about my style. 00:31:58.840 --> 00:32:00.299 When I preach and I ask a question, 00:32:00.380 --> 00:32:01.579 I never ask trick questions. 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:02.980 So you can trust yourself. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:04.079 You know the answer, okay? 00:32:04.380 --> 00:32:05.799 Because a lot of times you'll ask a question, 00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:07.000 and people say, I think I know the answer, 00:32:07.059 --> 00:32:07.680 but I ain't going to say it 00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:09.200 because I might be wrong, 00:32:09.299 --> 00:32:10.319 and then everybody laughs at me. 00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:11.460 You won't be wrong. 00:32:12.120 --> 00:32:13.100 Who are these outsiders? 00:32:13.099 --> 00:32:16.599 Y'all still don't trust yourself, do you? 00:32:16.919 --> 00:32:17.699 Not me. 00:32:17.959 --> 00:32:18.939 I'm going to let Brian answer. 00:32:19.099 --> 00:32:19.699 I ain't going to say it. 00:32:19.919 --> 00:32:21.139 You know who the outsiders are. 00:32:21.139 --> 00:32:22.179 Who are the outsiders? 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:24.639 Lost people, right? 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:26.839 There are people who don't know Christ. 00:32:27.740 --> 00:32:29.240 There are people who you don't want to share 00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:30.699 this mystery of the message with. 00:32:31.079 --> 00:32:32.199 And so he says, 00:32:33.379 --> 00:32:36.719 walk in wisdom toward lost people. 00:32:37.399 --> 00:32:38.459 He's warning Christians, 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:39.719 you want to live the Christian life? 00:32:39.779 --> 00:32:41.039 You want to be on mission? 00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:42.779 You want to accomplish this mission? 00:32:43.119 --> 00:32:45.180 You want to effectively bring lost people to Christ? 00:32:45.259 --> 00:32:47.259 And listen, if I ask you to raise your hand about that, 00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:49.559 I wish every hand in this room would go up and say, 00:32:49.619 --> 00:32:51.000 Pastor, that's what I want to do. 00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.180 I want to be somebody who brings people to Christ, 00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:55.180 who introduces people to Christ. 00:32:55.399 --> 00:32:57.059 I know God's going to have to do the saving, 00:32:57.319 --> 00:32:59.059 but I want to tell people about Jesus. 00:32:59.220 --> 00:33:00.480 That's my life's mission, 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:02.680 to tell people about Jesus. 00:33:03.619 --> 00:33:04.559 Well, how do you do that? 00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:06.319 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders. 00:33:07.259 --> 00:33:09.160 Here's two or three things you need to keep in mind. 00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:11.980 One, if you're going to walk in wisdom toward, 00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:15.380 you better always remember that lost people are going to act. 00:33:15.460 --> 00:33:16.140 Are you ready for this? 00:33:16.339 --> 00:33:18.460 Because it seems to surprise a lot of believers. 00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:20.420 They're going to act lost. 00:33:21.500 --> 00:33:23.000 Let me just give you a heads up on that one. 00:33:23.099 --> 00:33:23.920 If you don't know it already, 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:27.579 lost people are always going to act lost. 00:33:27.660 --> 00:33:28.140 You know why? 00:33:29.539 --> 00:33:30.599 Because they're lost. 00:33:31.539 --> 00:33:32.140 That's right. 00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:33.620 They're lost. 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:36.700 So they're not going to behave like church-going folk 00:33:36.700 --> 00:33:38.059 at First Baptist Church Pickens. 00:33:38.059 --> 00:33:41.379 They're going to do things that you wouldn't dream of doing. 00:33:42.139 --> 00:33:44.899 They're going to do things that you find offensive. 00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:49.339 I can't tell you how many times in the course of my life 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:50.839 I'd have members look at me and say, 00:33:50.919 --> 00:33:51.839 well, preacher, I went out there, 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:53.839 I was going to say something to the guys I worked with 00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:55.159 or the ladies I worked with. 00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:56.899 They're just pecans. 00:33:58.319 --> 00:33:59.259 They're just heathen. 00:34:00.220 --> 00:34:02.559 I mean, have you heard how they talk? 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:05.859 They use bad words. 00:34:06.519 --> 00:34:06.879 Really? 00:34:08.019 --> 00:34:09.059 They're lost. 00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:12.159 Do you expect them to use the king's English? 00:34:12.299 --> 00:34:13.019 They're lost. 00:34:13.659 --> 00:34:16.559 They're going to behave like lost people behave, right? 00:34:17.139 --> 00:34:18.759 They're going to drink too much. 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:20.420 They're going to carouse. 00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:22.559 They're going to live perverted lifestyles. 00:34:23.940 --> 00:34:24.679 And I want to tell you something. 00:34:24.779 --> 00:34:25.699 If we're on mission, 00:34:25.779 --> 00:34:28.259 and our mission is to bring those people to faith in Christ, 00:34:28.260 --> 00:34:33.280 we better recognize we can't do anything to offend them 00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:34.640 and to make them come to place. 00:34:35.140 --> 00:34:36.820 They're uncomfortable being around us 00:34:36.820 --> 00:34:38.420 because they know we're judgmental. 00:34:38.940 --> 00:34:39.760 Do you get that? 00:34:40.740 --> 00:34:42.000 We've got to go with it. 00:34:42.060 --> 00:34:43.780 We don't have to act the way they act. 00:34:44.140 --> 00:34:45.960 I don't have to behave the way they behave. 00:34:46.600 --> 00:34:47.480 That's the second thing. 00:34:47.900 --> 00:34:49.460 If you're going to walk with them in wisdom, 00:34:49.600 --> 00:34:51.500 you need to act defensively. 00:34:51.880 --> 00:34:52.960 By that I mean this. 00:34:53.020 --> 00:34:53.940 You need to be on guard 00:34:53.940 --> 00:34:56.360 because you need to know Satan's going to be trying to use them 00:34:56.360 --> 00:34:59.920 to impact you rather than you impacting them. 00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:02.380 And that's what disturbs me today. 00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:04.200 When I look at so many believers in the world, 00:35:04.579 --> 00:35:06.680 we're allowing the world to impact us 00:35:06.680 --> 00:35:08.760 more than we are impacting the world. 00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:10.980 My wife's on Facebook. 00:35:11.420 --> 00:35:13.860 You give her a chance to be your friend 00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:15.140 and she'll be freeing you in a heartbeat 00:35:15.140 --> 00:35:17.400 and she's going to know everything about your life. 00:35:17.500 --> 00:35:18.180 She's going to read it. 00:35:18.180 --> 00:35:20.180 I mean, she will read it about 16 hours a day. 00:35:20.240 --> 00:35:21.180 I'm exaggerating, right? 00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:23.760 I don't ever get on the thing. 00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:26.620 And it's not because I think people who do are wicked 00:35:26.620 --> 00:35:27.280 or anything like that. 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:29.840 It's a good medium for people to socially interact. 00:35:30.340 --> 00:35:32.360 But I don't do it because I get disappointed. 00:35:33.300 --> 00:35:34.680 And I'll tell you what disappoints me. 00:35:34.980 --> 00:35:35.920 When I go on Facebook, 00:35:36.120 --> 00:35:37.760 I see people I've known for years 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:39.200 who say they're believers 00:35:39.200 --> 00:35:42.680 who are acting as though they were lost. 00:35:43.780 --> 00:35:46.160 Saying mean and critical things 00:35:46.160 --> 00:35:47.460 and doing things 00:35:47.460 --> 00:35:49.160 and filming their self doing things 00:35:49.160 --> 00:35:51.100 and putting themselves on Facebook 00:35:51.099 --> 00:35:52.199 and I think, my goodness, 00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:54.099 I know lost people act lost, 00:35:54.779 --> 00:35:55.599 but you're a believer 00:35:55.599 --> 00:35:57.299 and you're acting lost. 00:35:57.519 --> 00:35:58.559 Now, not everybody does that. 00:35:58.759 --> 00:35:59.500 Most people don't, 00:35:59.799 --> 00:36:00.559 but some do. 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:02.920 So you need to guard, 00:36:03.059 --> 00:36:03.699 if you're a believer, 00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:05.259 if you're going to walk wisely 00:36:05.259 --> 00:36:06.500 with those who are outsiders, 00:36:06.819 --> 00:36:07.519 you need to make sure 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:09.079 they're not having more impact on you 00:36:09.079 --> 00:36:09.980 than you're having on them. 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:11.099 Can I ask you quickly, 00:36:11.299 --> 00:36:13.000 just do a little quick self inventory 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:14.980 and ask yourself about the lost friends you know. 00:36:14.980 --> 00:36:17.159 Do you have more influence on them 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:19.099 or do they have more influence on you? 00:36:19.099 --> 00:36:21.639 And then there's a last thing 00:36:21.639 --> 00:36:23.739 and that is to be offensive. 00:36:24.219 --> 00:36:25.619 And how do you be offensive 00:36:25.619 --> 00:36:27.699 toward those who are lost, 00:36:27.839 --> 00:36:28.299 outsiders? 00:36:28.500 --> 00:36:30.039 He tells us in verse 5 and 6 00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:31.019 and I say this in close. 00:36:31.079 --> 00:36:31.819 Look at verse 5. 00:36:32.319 --> 00:36:34.099 Making the most of your time. 00:36:34.980 --> 00:36:36.900 There was an old translation years ago, 00:36:37.019 --> 00:36:38.079 it wasn't even a good translation, 00:36:38.339 --> 00:36:39.759 it was called the Cotton Pats version, 00:36:40.119 --> 00:36:42.159 but I like how they translated this verse. 00:36:42.219 --> 00:36:43.219 You know what they said about that? 00:36:43.739 --> 00:36:45.539 Use your time as though you had to buy it. 00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:47.779 It's a pretty good interpretation, isn't it? 00:36:47.780 --> 00:36:50.920 Use your time as though you had to buy it. 00:36:50.940 --> 00:36:51.920 Because here's what I found. 00:36:52.420 --> 00:36:54.760 We are pretty guarded with our wallets, right? 00:36:54.900 --> 00:36:56.340 Every time the preacher preaches on money, 00:36:56.420 --> 00:36:57.519 where do you kind of put your hand 00:36:57.519 --> 00:36:58.320 on your back pocket 00:36:58.320 --> 00:36:59.360 and guard that thing right? 00:37:00.860 --> 00:37:03.660 But we are just wasteful with our time. 00:37:04.580 --> 00:37:05.720 I see people all the time 00:37:05.720 --> 00:37:07.640 who just blow time like it's water 00:37:07.640 --> 00:37:09.380 and don't think anything about it. 00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:10.080 But let me tell you something, 00:37:10.160 --> 00:37:11.040 when you get my age, 00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:13.160 you value time. 00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:15.980 Because I can't get yesterday back. 00:37:16.819 --> 00:37:19.539 I can't spend this last hour of my life over. 00:37:20.420 --> 00:37:21.920 When it's done, it's done. 00:37:22.339 --> 00:37:24.559 So I need to be careful about how I use my time. 00:37:25.359 --> 00:37:26.980 I'm 22 years old at the time. 00:37:27.500 --> 00:37:28.299 I'm a youth minister 00:37:28.299 --> 00:37:29.920 at First Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant. 00:37:30.460 --> 00:37:32.579 It's about 4.35 in the afternoon. 00:37:33.699 --> 00:37:35.599 Everybody on our church staff is going home. 00:37:35.719 --> 00:37:36.659 I'm the only one in the building. 00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:39.619 And I hear the side door of our church rattling. 00:37:39.619 --> 00:37:41.380 I get up and I go 00:37:41.380 --> 00:37:43.759 and there's Sean Jones, 19 years old, 00:37:44.139 --> 00:37:46.940 big old boy, about 6'3", 280 pounds. 00:37:47.219 --> 00:37:48.259 And he's standing at the door, 00:37:48.519 --> 00:37:49.199 rattling the door. 00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:50.639 I go to the door and I say, 00:37:50.699 --> 00:37:51.279 Sean, can I help you? 00:37:51.719 --> 00:37:53.099 Yeah, I just wondered if you'd left yet. 00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:54.319 Thought I'd come in and see you for a minute 00:37:54.319 --> 00:37:54.960 if you got time. 00:37:55.500 --> 00:37:56.279 Sure, come on in. 00:37:56.579 --> 00:37:57.940 Walked in, sat down in my office. 00:37:58.059 --> 00:37:58.940 I'm on one side of the desk. 00:37:59.019 --> 00:38:00.000 Sean's on the other side of the desk. 00:38:00.339 --> 00:38:02.799 We chewed the fat for about 30, 35 minutes. 00:38:03.559 --> 00:38:05.039 No particular conversation. 00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:07.339 Believe me, I reflected over it many times later. 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:09.319 Nothing said out of the ordinary. 00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:11.500 He says, well, I better go. 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:12.940 He gets up and he walks to the door. 00:38:13.019 --> 00:38:13.859 I'll walk with him out. 00:38:14.339 --> 00:38:16.179 I turn to the right to go to my Volkswagen 00:38:16.179 --> 00:38:17.139 to get in the car and go home. 00:38:17.380 --> 00:38:18.199 He turns to the left 00:38:18.199 --> 00:38:19.559 and walks around the other side of the building. 00:38:20.179 --> 00:38:22.900 From where we stood to his front door 00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:25.539 was no further than from here to Main Street Pickens. 00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:28.099 Just about 250 feet. 00:38:29.380 --> 00:38:32.039 When I got home, a couple hours later, 00:38:32.039 --> 00:38:32.880 I got a call. 00:38:33.839 --> 00:38:35.239 And somebody told me the most shocking news 00:38:35.239 --> 00:38:36.299 I could ever hear. 00:38:37.059 --> 00:38:38.900 Sean had walked into his bedroom closet 00:38:38.900 --> 00:38:39.579 when he got home. 00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:40.500 His dad was gone. 00:38:40.579 --> 00:38:41.420 His mother deceased. 00:38:41.900 --> 00:38:44.099 He walked into his bedroom closet. 00:38:44.700 --> 00:38:46.180 This big old boy took off his belt, 00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:49.240 wrapped it around that bar in his closet 00:38:49.240 --> 00:38:51.139 and hung himself till he was dead. 00:38:51.139 --> 00:38:54.859 I don't know if that's ever happened to you, 00:38:55.420 --> 00:38:57.199 but I'll tell you what will happen to you 00:38:57.199 --> 00:38:59.679 before you die if you live to be as long as me. 00:39:00.579 --> 00:39:01.619 There's going to come a time 00:39:01.619 --> 00:39:03.420 where somebody's going to call you on the phone 00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:05.579 or you're going to see somebody in church 00:39:05.579 --> 00:39:06.480 or out on a field 00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:07.400 and they're going to say to you, 00:39:07.659 --> 00:39:08.679 hey, did you hear about so-and-so? 00:39:08.779 --> 00:39:09.759 No, what happened to him? 00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:10.879 He died. 00:39:11.659 --> 00:39:12.279 She died. 00:39:12.859 --> 00:39:14.579 And here's what you're going to say. 00:39:15.579 --> 00:39:16.400 You're going to say, 00:39:16.539 --> 00:39:17.440 that can't be. 00:39:18.279 --> 00:39:20.039 I just saw him 30 minutes ago. 00:39:20.139 --> 00:39:21.500 I just saw him two hours ago. 00:39:22.500 --> 00:39:24.079 They sat behind me in church. 00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:26.619 I saw him the other day at the grocery store. 00:39:26.739 --> 00:39:27.099 I talked. 00:39:27.259 --> 00:39:28.259 He looked so healthy. 00:39:30.139 --> 00:39:30.579 Right? 00:39:31.900 --> 00:39:32.699 Paul says, 00:39:32.940 --> 00:39:34.880 if you realize you're on a mission, 00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:36.179 you better do this first of all. 00:39:36.219 --> 00:39:38.779 You better walk with the outsiders wisely 00:39:38.780 --> 00:39:41.580 and you had better use every moment 00:39:41.580 --> 00:39:42.820 because you don't know 00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:45.860 what time holds for anyone. 00:39:46.519 --> 00:39:47.460 Make the most of your time. 00:39:47.700 --> 00:39:49.180 Here's the final verse and I close. 00:39:50.220 --> 00:39:52.100 Your speech should always be gracious. 00:39:53.240 --> 00:39:54.360 Seasoned with salt. 00:39:54.519 --> 00:39:55.480 I like that, don't you? 00:39:57.320 --> 00:40:00.240 Your speech should always be gracious. 00:40:01.640 --> 00:40:03.380 Right now, I could ask you to point 00:40:03.380 --> 00:40:05.460 to somebody in here who you know is like that 00:40:05.460 --> 00:40:06.360 and you could do it. 00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:09.500 We all know somebody who's just great. 00:40:09.700 --> 00:40:10.099 It don't matter. 00:40:10.980 --> 00:40:12.720 It doesn't matter what happens. 00:40:12.820 --> 00:40:13.720 They're unflappable. 00:40:14.300 --> 00:40:15.480 They're just always gracious. 00:40:15.980 --> 00:40:17.200 They're just always kind. 00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:19.039 Maybe somebody says something 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:20.360 that might hurt somebody else's face. 00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:21.140 Not theirs 00:40:21.140 --> 00:40:23.079 because they just brush it off. 00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:23.980 They just smile. 00:40:24.180 --> 00:40:24.960 They go right on. 00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:26.500 They're not easily offended. 00:40:26.680 --> 00:40:27.700 They're not quick to anger. 00:40:28.099 --> 00:40:29.059 They're slow to speak. 00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:31.200 They're not always giving people advice, 00:40:31.300 --> 00:40:31.940 telling them how they need 00:40:31.940 --> 00:40:32.900 to straighten out their lives. 00:40:33.420 --> 00:40:34.180 They're just gracious. 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:35.760 They're just kind. 00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:37.020 They're just loving. 00:40:37.940 --> 00:40:38.320 He says, 00:40:38.620 --> 00:40:40.980 let your speech be gracious, 00:40:41.340 --> 00:40:42.240 seasoned with salt, 00:40:42.660 --> 00:40:43.320 so that, 00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:44.400 there's a reason for it, 00:40:44.740 --> 00:40:45.760 so that you may know 00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:50.220 how you should answer each person. 00:40:52.120 --> 00:40:53.600 I close by telling you this. 00:40:55.180 --> 00:40:56.540 And if you think I'm partisan, 00:40:57.500 --> 00:40:58.720 you just don't know Ralph Carter 00:40:58.720 --> 00:40:59.780 and you're going to have to get to know him 00:40:59.780 --> 00:41:00.640 because I'm going to tell you something. 00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:03.600 I'm not crazy about either side politically. 00:41:03.599 --> 00:41:04.039 Okay? 00:41:04.860 --> 00:41:05.839 I know where I stand, 00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:06.779 but I'm going to keep that to me 00:41:06.779 --> 00:41:08.219 unless we have a private conversation. 00:41:08.619 --> 00:41:09.460 And this illustration 00:41:09.460 --> 00:41:11.119 is not in the least bit partisan. 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:13.059 But I'll tell you something. 00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:14.440 Back in September, 00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:15.239 I think it was, 00:41:15.279 --> 00:41:16.460 it could have been the first of October. 00:41:16.819 --> 00:41:18.099 I think it was the end of September. 00:41:18.539 --> 00:41:20.739 We had our first presidential debate. 00:41:20.819 --> 00:41:21.339 Remember that? 00:41:22.739 --> 00:41:24.059 That's two hours of my life 00:41:24.059 --> 00:41:24.980 I'll never get back. 00:41:24.980 --> 00:41:28.539 It was horrible. 00:41:29.699 --> 00:41:31.519 They didn't talk about any of the issues. 00:41:32.500 --> 00:41:33.900 They just name called 00:41:33.900 --> 00:41:36.800 and tried to be spiteful to one another. 00:41:37.519 --> 00:41:39.260 They weren't civil to each other. 00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:43.059 They tried to get barbs on each other 00:41:43.059 --> 00:41:43.880 all night long. 00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:44.679 Both sides did. 00:41:44.740 --> 00:41:45.500 It was just awful. 00:41:46.179 --> 00:41:47.179 They owed, in my opinion, 00:41:47.280 --> 00:41:48.940 the American people an apology 00:41:48.940 --> 00:41:49.599 when it was over. 00:41:50.679 --> 00:41:51.440 A few days later, 00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:53.320 President Trump got COVID, remember? 00:41:53.320 --> 00:41:55.680 They sent him to Walter Reed. 00:41:56.539 --> 00:41:58.440 The whole nation felt bad. 00:41:58.660 --> 00:41:59.580 I hope they felt bad. 00:41:59.660 --> 00:42:00.300 I felt bad. 00:42:01.240 --> 00:42:02.400 And many people prayed. 00:42:03.680 --> 00:42:04.800 And among those, 00:42:05.100 --> 00:42:05.700 believe it or not, 00:42:05.840 --> 00:42:06.780 if you didn't hear this, 00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:09.480 Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden 00:42:09.480 --> 00:42:10.640 contacted the president. 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:11.760 And I don't know how they did it. 00:42:11.780 --> 00:42:12.680 If they did it by phone, 00:42:13.120 --> 00:42:14.920 if they sent a message through someone, 00:42:15.059 --> 00:42:15.620 if they texted, 00:42:15.700 --> 00:42:16.720 I don't know how they communicated. 00:42:17.280 --> 00:42:18.380 But the news said 00:42:18.380 --> 00:42:20.580 they had communicated with President Trump 00:42:20.580 --> 00:42:22.000 and wished President Trump 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:23.260 and his family well. 00:42:23.320 --> 00:42:25.260 that they were praying for him 00:42:25.260 --> 00:42:27.019 and that they hoped he'd have 00:42:27.019 --> 00:42:27.980 a speedy recovery 00:42:27.980 --> 00:42:30.260 and soon be back on the campaign trail. 00:42:31.840 --> 00:42:32.980 And here's my question. 00:42:34.440 --> 00:42:35.320 Do you think 00:42:35.320 --> 00:42:38.240 there's any chance at all, 00:42:38.860 --> 00:42:39.920 at all, 00:42:41.059 --> 00:42:42.080 that when President Trump 00:42:42.080 --> 00:42:43.080 got that message, 00:42:43.640 --> 00:42:44.720 whether he talked to them 00:42:44.720 --> 00:42:45.860 or he heard it, 00:42:46.940 --> 00:42:48.320 do you think there's any chance at all 00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:48.800 that he said, 00:42:48.980 --> 00:42:50.300 wow, they're nice people? 00:42:50.300 --> 00:42:50.700 You know, 00:42:52.260 --> 00:42:52.760 you know, 00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:53.780 I believe that was heartfelt. 00:42:55.300 --> 00:42:55.840 I believe they, 00:42:56.400 --> 00:42:57.440 I wonder how many hours 00:42:57.440 --> 00:42:58.680 Nancy prayed for me. 00:42:59.780 --> 00:43:00.980 You think they thought that? 00:43:01.640 --> 00:43:02.960 And if you think I'm being partisan, 00:43:03.060 --> 00:43:04.120 let me just quickly tell you, 00:43:04.220 --> 00:43:05.320 if it had been reversed 00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:08.120 and Joe Biden had gotten COVID 00:43:08.120 --> 00:43:09.680 or Nancy Pelosi had gotten COVID 00:43:09.680 --> 00:43:10.860 and President Trump 00:43:10.860 --> 00:43:11.760 had sent well wishes 00:43:11.760 --> 00:43:12.180 and said, 00:43:12.380 --> 00:43:13.420 I just want you to know, 00:43:14.539 --> 00:43:15.039 me and Melania 00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:15.920 are praying for you 00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:17.760 and I want you to be well soon 00:43:17.760 --> 00:43:18.960 and back on the campaign trail. 00:43:19.680 --> 00:43:20.780 You think there's a chance 00:43:20.780 --> 00:43:21.539 in the world 00:43:21.539 --> 00:43:23.280 that the Biden camp, 00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:24.039 the Pelosi camp 00:43:24.039 --> 00:43:24.400 would have said, 00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:25.599 hmm, that was heartfelt. 00:43:25.740 --> 00:43:27.200 He's not such a bad guy after all. 00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:29.360 Any chance of that? 00:43:29.860 --> 00:43:30.700 Now listen to me. 00:43:30.920 --> 00:43:32.780 Because they're human beings 00:43:32.780 --> 00:43:33.880 and there's a decency 00:43:33.880 --> 00:43:34.740 about all of us, 00:43:35.420 --> 00:43:36.680 they might have actually 00:43:36.680 --> 00:43:37.820 meant that sincerely. 00:43:38.019 --> 00:43:38.860 I would hope. 00:43:39.400 --> 00:43:40.099 I would hope. 00:43:40.200 --> 00:43:41.119 I'm not going to judge them. 00:43:41.260 --> 00:43:41.700 I would hope 00:43:41.700 --> 00:43:42.559 they mean it sincerely. 00:43:43.519 --> 00:43:44.280 But I know this. 00:43:44.280 --> 00:43:45.880 Whether they meant it sincerely 00:43:45.880 --> 00:43:47.420 or it was as fake 00:43:47.420 --> 00:43:48.880 and political as it could be. 00:43:50.580 --> 00:43:52.260 Neither party would have ever believed 00:43:52.260 --> 00:43:53.040 it coming out of the mouth 00:43:53.040 --> 00:43:53.540 to the others. 00:43:53.640 --> 00:43:54.180 You know why? 00:43:55.040 --> 00:43:56.620 Because that ship had sailed. 00:43:58.120 --> 00:43:59.700 It's too late to be nice now. 00:44:00.620 --> 00:44:02.160 Too late to be winsome now. 00:44:03.320 --> 00:44:04.820 You already showed your true colors. 00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:07.019 You've already been ungracious. 00:44:08.140 --> 00:44:09.019 And that ship sailed. 00:44:09.980 --> 00:44:11.580 Now here's how it impacts me and you. 00:44:12.280 --> 00:44:13.340 There are people we see 00:44:13.340 --> 00:44:14.460 that live lifestyles 00:44:14.460 --> 00:44:15.360 that we don't like. 00:44:16.220 --> 00:44:17.320 If we're real careful, 00:44:18.180 --> 00:44:19.519 we're looking for an opportunity 00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:20.140 to be a witness, 00:44:20.300 --> 00:44:21.519 but we've said so many things 00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:22.860 or had so many negative attitudes 00:44:22.860 --> 00:44:23.579 or treated them 00:44:23.579 --> 00:44:25.500 with such a standoffish approach 00:44:25.500 --> 00:44:26.079 in life. 00:44:27.160 --> 00:44:27.880 They don't think 00:44:27.880 --> 00:44:28.760 when the time comes 00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:29.440 that they're actually 00:44:29.440 --> 00:44:30.400 open to the gospel. 00:44:30.579 --> 00:44:30.960 And listen, 00:44:31.260 --> 00:44:32.460 they will be at some point 00:44:32.460 --> 00:44:32.940 in their life. 00:44:33.039 --> 00:44:33.980 Something bad's going to happen 00:44:33.980 --> 00:44:34.400 in their life 00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:34.900 and there's going to be 00:44:34.900 --> 00:44:35.460 an opportunity. 00:44:36.140 --> 00:44:37.180 But don't think you can 00:44:37.180 --> 00:44:38.079 walk through that door 00:44:38.079 --> 00:44:40.819 because that ship sailed. 00:44:42.099 --> 00:44:43.319 They're not going to hear from you 00:44:43.319 --> 00:44:46.139 because you've already spoken to them 00:44:46.139 --> 00:44:48.299 in an ungracious fashion. 00:44:50.039 --> 00:44:51.179 So walk wisely. 00:44:52.039 --> 00:44:53.579 Here's the invitation today. 00:44:54.199 --> 00:44:55.059 If you're here and you'd say, 00:44:55.139 --> 00:44:55.539 you know what? 00:44:55.759 --> 00:44:56.920 These two things I need 00:44:56.920 --> 00:44:58.159 in order to live for Christ 00:44:58.159 --> 00:44:59.639 to be devoted in prayer, 00:45:00.019 --> 00:45:00.840 I'm not devoted. 00:45:01.559 --> 00:45:02.599 And I just need to come 00:45:02.599 --> 00:45:03.460 with grips with that today 00:45:03.460 --> 00:45:04.139 and repent of it 00:45:04.139 --> 00:45:04.699 and do differently. 00:45:04.699 --> 00:45:05.000 You say, 00:45:05.079 --> 00:45:05.699 how do I begin 00:45:05.699 --> 00:45:07.359 to have a devoted prayer life 00:45:07.359 --> 00:45:08.539 the same way I began walking? 00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:09.079 Walk. 00:45:09.960 --> 00:45:10.719 You begin to pray. 00:45:10.919 --> 00:45:11.339 You pray. 00:45:12.159 --> 00:45:12.819 You start today. 00:45:12.879 --> 00:45:13.719 You start just praying. 00:45:14.980 --> 00:45:16.980 How do I do the second thing 00:45:16.980 --> 00:45:18.059 of being on red alert 00:45:18.059 --> 00:45:18.779 all the time 00:45:18.779 --> 00:45:20.119 for people in my path 00:45:20.119 --> 00:45:21.139 who need Christ? 00:45:21.859 --> 00:45:22.899 By doing the same thing. 00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:24.539 By beginning to walk wisely. 00:45:24.639 --> 00:45:25.679 By shutting your mouth. 00:45:26.759 --> 00:45:28.379 By learning to hold your opinions. 00:45:29.239 --> 00:45:30.579 By learning not to be offended. 00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:31.319 I want to tell you something. 00:45:31.839 --> 00:45:32.279 Believers 00:45:32.279 --> 00:45:34.579 have absolutely no right 00:45:34.579 --> 00:45:35.319 to be offended. 00:45:36.519 --> 00:45:37.400 We have offended 00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:38.559 the holy God 00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:40.559 and he has forgiven us. 00:45:41.799 --> 00:45:42.599 How dare we 00:45:42.599 --> 00:45:43.739 act out in anger 00:45:43.739 --> 00:45:44.340 because someone 00:45:44.340 --> 00:45:45.079 has offended us. 00:45:45.119 --> 00:45:45.659 Who are we 00:45:45.659 --> 00:45:46.639 that we should be offended 00:45:46.639 --> 00:45:48.779 for the sake of the cross? 00:45:50.219 --> 00:45:51.139 Let's bow to the other prayer. 00:45:51.259 --> 00:45:51.539 Father, 00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:53.400 lead us and guide us 00:45:53.400 --> 00:45:54.099 in these moments 00:45:54.099 --> 00:45:54.900 to make decisions 00:45:54.900 --> 00:45:56.779 that we'll be so glad we made 00:45:56.779 --> 00:45:57.840 whether it's visible 00:45:57.840 --> 00:45:59.039 here at the altar 00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:00.119 or right there in the pew 00:46:00.119 --> 00:46:02.019 when we stand before you 00:46:02.019 --> 00:46:02.360 one day 00:46:02.360 --> 00:46:03.739 and give account of our lives. 00:46:04.579 --> 00:46:05.599 For we make this prayer 00:46:05.599 --> 00:46:06.480 in Jesus' name. 00:46:07.299 --> 00:46:07.639 Amen. 00:46:07.639 --> 00:46:07.759 Amen.