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Guest (Male): Pastor Tom Keller with a suggestion for all of you business owners.

Pastor Thom Keller: If you're a business owner, a manager, a supervisor at work, pray for your co-workers who report to you. Write their names down on a list and pray for them daily. Why? Because it will cause you to love them more and care more deeply for them, which will change your relationship with them.

Guest (Male): If you heard that the Apostle Paul was teaching a how-to seminar on how to pray, you'd likely be excited and quickly RSVP for that, wouldn't you? Well, that's sort of what we have in Colossians chapter 1. Paul's teaching us how to pray, and today's your lucky day. You get to sit in on the class today on Study the Word. Let's join Pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: I got in a little trouble with the law this week. During a routine traffic stop, the officer noticed that I had my driver's license in a plastic sleeve hanging from my rearview mirror. You're not going to believe this, but he gave me a ticket for having a suspended license. Some of you don't believe me. Listen, how many of you remember when you prepared for your driver's exam hearing these words? Driving is a privilege, not a

Guest (Male): Right.

Pastor Thom Keller: Right. That's right. But you know what? Your salvation is actually a right and a privilege, and we're going to see in our teaching today who makes it both a right and a privilege. Colossians 1 verse 2, let's pick up. He says to the saints and faithful brethren, get that, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colassi. Now, last week we looked at Paul's opening words, but I want to make one more point here. It's interesting to note that in Paul's earlier years, he always addressed his letters generically to the church in a particular region, in a certain city.

That's the case in first and second Thessalonians, first and second Corinthians, and Galatians. There, they all are are addressed to the church in. But beginning with Romans, and then Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, Paul changes that, and he begins to address his letters by saying something along this line, as here, to the saints and faithful brethren in such and such a place. Here to the faithful saints, brothers and sisters in Christ who are in Colassi. Barclay makes this point. He said quote, as Paul grew older, he became more and more to see what really matters are individuals in the church, that the church is not a kind of abstract entity.

It is instead individuals, men and women and children. So, we see that as Paul grew older and wiser, he saw the church in terms of individuals rather than just a body. And you know, in the end that is what life is all about, isn't it? It's all about relationships. If you distill life down to its essence, when I do a funeral, it all comes down to relationships. The money's gone. None of that stuff matters. It all comes down to relationships. And for us as Christians, the most significant part is our relationship with Christ vertically, and how that relationship then affects our relationships with others horizontally.

Going under verse 3, we always pray for you and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You've had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the good news. This same good news that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace.

Let's look at verse 3 by itself. Those are powerful words. He says we always pray for you and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the first thing we observe here is that Paul obviously had a disciplined prayer life. The ESV says we always thank God when we pray for you, but King James says we give thanks to God praying always for you. You know, if you are in a position of leadership or authority, may I suggest that God has a call upon your life to pray for those people who are under your care.

If you're a father, there's a call in your life to pray for your wife and your children. Wherever there's authority, there's a special calling, a special anointing on that authority in prayer. If you're a Sunday school teacher, to pray for your students. If you're a public or private school teacher, to pray for your students. If you have a home group fellowship, you're a leader, pray for those who attend. If you're a business owner, a manager, a supervisor at work, pray for your co-workers who report to you. Write their names down on a list and pray for them daily.

Why? Because it will cause you to love them more and care more deeply for them, which will change your relationship with them. And I believe they'll sense it. They won't know that you're praying for them, but they're going to sense that there's something different about their relationship with you. It's a spirit thing. They'll sense it. And you will find that as you pray for them, you give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to tickle you related to intervening, doing something in their life. The Holy Spirit, you pray you go down through that list of people and the Holy Spirit say you ought to check in with this person.

Give him a call today. At the end of the work, just pull him aside. Something's going on. You'll get those promptings. Listen, I find in my life, especially when I was back in the business, when the bell went off in the morning and I was off to the races, I wasn't real sensitive to the Holy Spirit's promptings in those kinds of ways. You know, go talk to him, go see you know, I'm in the midst of the battle. If you miss that time in the morning, you miss that moment, it's gone. Pray for those people.

Give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to do that work with you. Colossians 1 4 says this, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people. I've said this before, in my Bible, when I find a sentence where I think the emphasis should always be on one word, I circle it. And I don't think we take much risk in this sentence in circling the word all that that's the intent. And your love for all of God's people. And he says for we have heard for we have heard.

Remember as we study Colossians, Paul not only did not found this church in Colassi, he never even visited this church in Colassi. And yet, Paul said that he had heard some good things about them, three things he had heard. Number one, about their faith in God. Number two, he had heard about their love for all people. And number three, he had heard about their confident hope in heaven. So, here's a question for you. Can the same be said of you? Is your joy in the Lord and that that joy comes from the Lord obvious to your co-workers?

Do your friends know of your faith that you are a follower of Jesus? Can they tell by your words? Can they tell by your actions? Do they know that you love all people by the way you interact with all people? And I mean all people. And do your friends know that you are living for heaven? That this world has no appeal to you. Do your co-workers, fellow students know about your faith? Number one. You know, I believe the best way to let them know what you believe is by asking them what they believe. And I believe that personally, one of the best questions I ever heard approach that subject with anyone with especially if you know are you talking to someone that you have no idea where they are is this question.

I'm curious. Do you have any interest in spiritual things? Are you interested in spiritual things? Now, why that question? Because it's a non-threatening, very broad question. You know, someone's into angels, if they're into whatever, Buddha. You know, it's a spiritual thing. It's it's a start. It's a launching point. Try not to start your conversation by telling them what you believe. First, ask what they believe. Be on that side. And you know, this is the same with Muslims. If you're witness to a Muslim, start by asking what they believe. You say I don't want to hear that.

Yeah, you do. You want to hear what they believe. You know, I've heard it said that witnessing to someone is like taking your finger and rubbing it around their soul until you find the way in. You rub your finger around their soul through the conversation until you find the point of entry. And as you listen to someone talk about their faith in in Muhammad, in the religion of Islam, you'll many times see an opening, a road in, a door in. But that starts by listening to them. Secondly, Paul says that the Colossian church is known for their love for all people, all people.

You know, something that I love about this church is a wide variety of people who attend Calvary. It's a cross section of both the city and the county. It's all ethnic groups, all races, all socio-economic groups, all gathered to worship God and study his word. And here's what's really cool about this church. Some people have a very narrow band of people that they can tolerate. In other words, if they're not like me, if they're not for this, or if they're not against that, then I just don't accept them. I don't want anything to do with them.

And when those people come to Calvary, they look left and they look right and they say I 'm not coming back here. But guess who that leaves? It leaves the people that really like that diversity. And that is a very neat bunch of people. That's you. Those who love the diverse culture and varied backgrounds. For many of us, where else in the course of a week do we get to mix in with people who are from all of these different backgrounds? It's amazing. I was talking to Vinnie, the doorman. You all know who Vinnie is, the doorman?

He's a tags as doorman. When I came to church this morning, I said Vinnie, I'm older than you, so I'll probably die before you. But here's the deal. If I die before you, I'll be your doorman. And if you die before me, how about you be the doorman? Let me in the heaven, all right? And he'll still have his name tag. You'll see Vinnie doorman. But I asked permission this morning to share this and he said absolutely. Vinnie told me sometime back that he was in the Narthex in the back with eight to 10 guys in a circle as they're talking, and he realized that all of them had been in Lebanon County prison at the same time.

And now they're all in the same church. How cool is that, huh? Isn't that what the church should be? Isn't that what we should be back? Shouldn't we celebrate that and those guys? I remember coming home from a Bible study with my wife Sue. I've shared this before on a Monday night. I was so pumped up about everybody. It's just everybody's there, such a mix of people. And I said to my wife, I feel like I've I'm coming back from Baskin and Robbins and I have all 33 flavors in my mouth. You know, like wow, this is so good.

You know, why why vanilla? Why just vanilla when there's rocky road, when there's mint chocolate chip, right? All those flavors and varieties. Oh, it's beautiful. And folks, that's what the church should be. In fact, not only is that what the church should be, that is what the church is. Because the true church, the entire church is a mix of everyone. And if you don't get used to it down here, you're going to have to get used to it up there because that's what you're going to be facing real soon. In his book The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee said this quote, the normal Christian life manifests itself in love for the unlovely.

For the brother whom a natural grounds we would not like and certainly could not love. It works on the basis of what the Lord sees of possibilities in that brother. We say Lord, you see that he is lovable and you love him. So now Lord, help me love him you through me. You know, when we first started this fellowship, I seem to remember that the most common common I would get from the people about the church was that it was a teaching church. But as we've grown and become more diverse, this is now the most common positive comment I receive about Calvary.

They will say you have such a rich diversity of people in your church. They say how did that happen? I say I have no idea. They say you know how rare that is? I say I have no idea. It just happened. And as a pastor, as one of your pastors, we as pastors are so thrilled and delighted that we can say of you here at Calvary the same thing the Apostle Paul said in verse 4. We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people. We love you guys so much for loving everyone.

If you think about it, wouldn't that be true of parents? Listen, if parents had children, wouldn't you just love the fact that they all just love each other, accept each other? Don't get caught up in all the garbage, all the drama, just they love each other. Isn't that the ultimate Thanksgiving meal? Everybody's just, you know, laughing and kibitzing and having fun. That's how Look, a lot of families, blood can't pull it off. But we can as the body of Christ. We really can. And the third commendation Paul gives this fellowship in Colassi is verse 5.

He says which comes from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You've had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the good news. Do you long for heaven? Are you looking forward day were to the joys of heaven? Folks, we've covered this issue not that long ago. So, I want to share just a few quick verses and quotes about longing for heaven. Coming up in Colossians chapter 3 verse 2, it says think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. C.S. Lewis said joy is a serious business of heaven.

C.S. Lewis also said the fact that when our hearts yearn for something earth can't supply, it's proof that heaven must be our home. C.S. Lewis also said my prayer is that when I die, all hell rejoices that I am out of the fight. It's pretty good. Hebrews 13 14 says this, for this world is not our permanent home. We're looking forward to a home yet to come. 2 Corinthians 4 18. So, we don't look. If you're going through trials, difficulties right now, this is your verse this morning. So, we don't look at the troubles we can see now, rather we fix our gaze on the things we that cannot be seen.

For the things we see now will soon be gone. But the things we cannot see will last forever. Connected to that, C.S. Lewis said the sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all beauty came from. Isn't that beautiful? Charles Spurgeon said this quote, the more of heaven there is in our lives, the less of earth we shall covet. Connected to that, Randy Alcorn said this quote, nothing makes a journey more difficult than a heavy backpack filled with nice but unnecessary things. And ending with C.S. Lewis, he says there are far better things ahead than anything we leave behind.

You know, we should learn to always keep heaven in the forefront of our view and view life and what you encounter in life, both good and bad, from the perspective of heaven. Going under verse 6. This same good news that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace. You know, this is a very telling statement. Paul wrote this letter somewhere between 16 62 AD. Jesus died somewhere around 33 AD.

So, it's been less than 30 years since Jesus died, and already Paul can say this quote, this same good news that came to you is going out all over the world and is changing lives everywhere. You know, I was curious as to how many Christians there really were in the early church, so I did some digging. Actually, they got a good head start in Acts chapter 2. After Peter preached his sermon, 3,000 joined the church. But what about beyond that? Rodney Stark of Baylor University estimates that there was a total global Christian population in 150 AD of 40,000.

In 200 AD, 220,000. By 250 AD, 1.7 million. And by Constantine, when he was emperor, 7 million in 325 AD. But earlier than 150 AD, I couldn't find any information. If you find something passing on, I'd be curious if you can find something. But what we do know with certainty from the Bible is it very on the church at Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection, it had added an immediate 3,000 found in Acts chapter 2. And shortly after that, in Acts chapter 4, another 5,000 were added. And we know that the dating of Acts chapter 4 is only one year after Pentecost.

So, in that first year, a minimum of 8,000 men with women and children, maybe 20,000 plus. So again, 150 AD, 40,000. 200 AD, 220,000. 250 AD, 1.7 million. By Constantine, 7 million. And that's out of a population of Roman Empire that was about 60 million. So, 7 million out of 60 million is about 7%. So, by the time Constantine shows up, 7% of the Roman Empire were Christians. How have we done since then? Well, 100 years ago, 35% of the world's population considered themselves Christian. 35% 100 years ago. Today, we're back to 31%. So, we're losing some ground.

But those are the numbers. And in case you're interested, from the time of the first persecution of Christians by Nero around 64 AD until Constantine became emperor in 306 AD when which is when the persecution ended. For that period of 242 years, 87 years of that period the church was persecuted. 87 years out of 242 years or 35%. So, those first 250 years, 35% of the time the church was persecuted and severely persecuted by the emperors of Rome. Going under verse 6. This same good news that came to you is going out all over the world.

It's bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace. So, moving on to Colossians 1 7. It says just as you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, he is faithful he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to you us your love in the spirit. I looked at the pronunciation. It's Epaphras. So, the question is who is Epaphras? Paul says that he was the one who brought the good news to the Colossians.

And as we said earlier, we know that Paul did not found this church, but neither did he ever visit it. And so, it's not known for certain who this Epaphras was. What we do know about Epaphras is that later in this letter Paul connects him with the churches in both Laodicea and Hierapolis. And of this point, William Barclay says this quote, if Epaphras was not the founder of the Christian church in Colassi, he was certainly the minister in charge of the area, probably those three churches for sure. So, what is Paul's connection to this church?

Didn't found it, never visited it. What gives him the right to stick his nose in this church's business? Was generally believed that after planning this church, Epaphras runs into some trouble and he travels from Colassi to Rome while Paul was in prison and asked for Paul's help, which he did. What could he do but write a letter? He's in prison. So, he wrote this letter. So, what is Paul's connection to Epaphras that they had that relationship initially? It's assumed that Epaphras was one of Paul 's converts and after turning to Christ, he then planted some churches.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Tom Keller on Study the Word, and we're in a study of Colossians right now. Would you like to give this a second listen? Either go to our website at ccleb.com or visit our YouTube page. Simply subscribe to our channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon, and you can watch our services live or on demand. That includes this series in Colossians. For those interested in a CD copy, call 717 273 5633. Once again, that's 717 273 5633. Study the Word is listener supported. With your help, we're able to reach thousands of people all over the world.

Please consider sending in a gift today, and you can give online at ccleb.com or call 717 273 5633. Or if you prefer to write, jot down this address, Study the Word 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. And we also want to invite you to join us for a Sunday service, either in person or online. For more information or to watch the live stream, visit ccleb.com or again go to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. There's much more to come in Colossians. Don't miss a moment of the journey on Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller.

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