Study the Word

Guest (Male): Illustrating our great need to persevere in prayer, here's pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: Failing to persevere in prayer is like reaching your hand into a fire without a fire glove on. It's like placing your head in a beehive without a hat on. It's like descending into a pool of sharks in a cage and sticking your foot out of the cage. You're going to get hurt. And when it comes to Satan, prayer protects you from Satan's strategies. Strategies that are so complex. Only prayer, I think, will protect you.

Guest (Male): To be a Christian without prayer, Martin Luther famously said, is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. So then prayer is vital. To not pray is dangerous. And as we continue in our study of Colossians on today's study the word, we'll get into this critical issue. Here now with today's lesson from Colossians chapter 4 is our teacher once again, pastor Tom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: A shopping center mall manager had three spaces to rent out all in a row. A prospective lessee by the name of John Smith shows up and says he wants to rent the space on the left for a men's wear shop. That's fine, the mall manager says. You get free signage. What do you want your sign to say? Men's wear, says Smith. The second guy, Jose Martinez comes along and wants to rent the right hand space for his formal wear men's formal wear business. When asked, Mr. Miller says he wants men's wear in his sign too.

The mall manager tells him that the left hand shop will have the same sign. No problem. Bob says, the more signage, the better. Finally, the third man named Herman Cohen comes along to rent the middle space. The manager is somewhat concerned because this guy also wants a men's shop to go in. When the manager asks Mr. Cohen what he wants in his sign, Cohen replies, entrance. Pretty shrewd. Pretty shrewd. You know, in Luke chapter 16 Jesus confirmed that the people of this world are more clever in their ways than maybe we are. It says the master commanded the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.

For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light. And this is why Jesus told us this in Matthew chapter 10. He said, behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents, harmless as doves. Be wise as serpents, harmless as doves. And in today's lesson we get to apply this shrewdness as we consider how we share Christ with the unsaved around us. So let's dig in. Colossians chapter 4 verse 2. Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

Pray for us too that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Live wisely among those who are not believers and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. Looking at verse 2 by itself initially, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. In Greek the word for continue in prayer is and it means to continue to be earnest toward to persevere to be constantly diligent in to continue on in prayer.

And Paul adds that there is a very real danger for those who don't continue on in prayer, who don't remain constant in prayer, who don't remain diligent in prayer. Because in verse 2 Paul adds that we are to pray with an alert mind. In Greek the word for alert there is and it means to take heed or to be careful, listen, lest through inattentiveness some destructive calamity overtakes you. If through failing to pray, through inattentiveness to prayer some destructive calamity suddenly overtakes you. In other words, Paul is saying prayer protects you from destructive calamity. The admonition to be alert in prayer here by Paul reminds us of a similar warning given to us by Peter in 1 Peter 5.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Peter's admonition, be alert. Paul's admonition, be alert. So let's put this all together. Paul is saying I should, you should continue constantly in prayer, be earnest in prayer, persevere in prayer, be diligent in prayer because if you don't give priority to prayer in life, you open yourself up to you become susceptible to the destructive calamities that Satan will bring against you. Prayer brings protection. Failing to persevere in prayer is like reaching your hand into a fire without a fire glove on.

It's like placing your head in a beehive without a hat on. It's like descending into a pool of sharks in a cage and sticking your foot out of the cage or it's as foolish as this guy. You're going to get hurt. You're going to get hurt. Prayer changes things and when it comes to Satan, prayer protects you from Satan's strategies. Strategies that are so complex. Only prayer, I think, will protect you. And Colossians 4 3 he says, pray for us too that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ.

That is why I am here in chains. Pray that God will give us opportunities. The ESV, the New King James, the King James, NIV say open a door for us. Pray that God would give us an open door. And this is actually a very fitting photograph for all of our endeavors that we undertake. God, please unlock, unlatch this door if this is where you want me to go, if this is what you want me to do. Because please always remember it is not your job to try to break doors down or to try to force doors open that are locked.

That is God's job. It is your job to test those doors to see if they're open, if they're open to you, and then walk through. You have to take that initiative. But if you find yourself having to break doors down, there's either one of two things. Either you're outside of God's will or you're ahead of his timing. Because it is God's job to unlock doors and your job to test those doors and if they're unlocked, walk through. I spent way too many years of my life trying to force doors open that were locked. That's not our job.

That's God's job. It's God's job to unlock doors and your job to walk through. And folks, this is a huge lesson in life. A key guiding principle in life. It will save you so much frustration. And in verse 3 Paul calls us to be evangelistic and to pray for opportunities to share Christ. He says and pray for us too that God may open a door for our message so that I may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. Pray for an open door so we may I may proclaim the mystery of Christ.

Now this mystery of Christ Paul is specifically referring to this brand new mystery to Paul's audience that salvation is now also available to the Gentiles, unheard of. And he says, in fact, that's why he's in prison for preaching that message that salvation is available to non-Jews as well. Radical thought. In Acts chapter 21 we find Paul at the temple mining his own business when a mob is stirred up against Paul by the false accusation that he had brought a Gentile into the temple area. The crowd went wild. They seized Paul and begin to kill him.

And only after a group of Roman soldiers step in is he protected. And then Paul with this circle of Roman soldiers around him protected begins to address the mob. And he says this, Acts 22 verse 1. Brothers and esteemed fathers, Paul said, listen to me as I offer my defense. Paul then goes on to share his testimony about his road to Damascus experience. And everyone is in absolute silence until he got to just one word. The speaking of one word drives the crowd insane. And we find that in Acts chapter 22. But the Lord said to me, he's giving his testimony to the crowd.

But the Lord said to me, go for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. The crowd listened until Paul said that word, Gentiles. And they all began to shout, away with such a fellow. He isn't fit to live. They yelled and threw off their coats and tossed handfuls of dust into the air. How madness you be to reach down, grab dust and throw it in the air. Grown men, really. They were mad. But it was reflective that this is why Paul was in chains at that very moment. He was eventually imprisoned, taken and put in chains because of that event.

That started the whole thing in process. And as he writes this letter, he is in prison. He is in chains and he knows the reason is because he proclaimed the gospel, that the gospel was available to Gentiles as well as Jews. And Paul is telling us in chains, you preach this same message. You tell others. You ask God for open doors to witness to others. And so in witnessing to others about Christ, is there a way that you can tell if God has opened up a door for you to share at that time and with that person?

I believe there is. In 2 Corinthians 2 14 we read this. But thank God he has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal process. Here's the key point. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere like a sweet perfume. So if you're a believer, you give off the aroma of Christ, whether you know it or not. You give off the aroma of Christ. But that aroma is perceived differently by different people by those that are open to salvation. It's a sweet perfume. To those that are closed to salvation, it is a stench of death.

And that's what it says in verse 15 and 16. Listen. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved we are a life-giving perfume. And who's adequate for such a task as this? In a way this plays out is again, how do I know if this person is open to the gospel as I speak with them? Because as you sit down with them, you are going to give off the aroma of Christ.

And you will sense as you're talking to them if it's the aroma of death leading to death, this is what you'll see. They'll start to kind of back away just, you know, an inch back. Their head will go back and their eyes will kind of flutter a lot of times and and their their face hardens and you you can feel in their spirit they're saying get this thing out of here. I want nothing to do with this. That's not a good sign. Doesn't mean you don't keep sharing but it's not a good sign. Sometimes it does mean you stop sharing depending.

We'll talk about that. But but here's a real encouraging part. When you start sharing Christ with someone and they start to lean in, they just pull front an inch and their face kind of engages and they're with you, that is a very very good sign because you are the aroma of life leading to life. The Holy Spirit is at work calling them, drawing them, wooing them. And the fact that they're leaning in and engaging is a sign that they are responding to God's Holy Spirit and you keep going. That's why it's encouraging. The aroma of life leading to life.

And you'll sense that. You will sense that. And you know, folks, this really takes the pressure off of us and puts it on the source of where it really belongs, on on the Holy Spirit. Remember it is not your job to convict or convince people. It is not your job to convince people. That is the sole job responsibility of the Holy Spirit. Speaking of the role of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said this in John chapter 16 verse 8. And when he comes, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment.

So we learn here that the Holy Spirit has three roles when you witness. Number one, he will convince the person of their sinfulness. If they're open to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will convince them that they're a sinner. The second point is to convince them of the righteousness that we should live a right life, that God's requirements are just and fair. And thirdly, of the coming judgment of the death and hell which follows those who are unforgiven. I've said this before but Ecclesiastes says that God has written eternity in the hearts of men. And that means that in all people there's this underlying nagging resonance, dissonance that if I died I'm afraid it would not be good for me.

Most people, even the most hardened people have this sense that something happens after this life and they're afraid of it. They have that sense. So we learn then to ask probing questions. When you share with someone, you know, I think a great starting question is do you have interest in spiritual things? You know, bookstores today are filled with books on spirituality, angels and and spirit guides and all these things that mask pose as spiritual things. And so when you say are you interested in spiritual things, a lot of people will jump at that. Whereas if you said are you interested in Christianity, they'd say, yeah, no no no no.

You know, I said this before and I apologize to insurance salesmen right up front but if you go to if an insurance salesman goes to a party and goes up to somebody he doesn't know and they say to you, what do you do? And he said, well you say, why sell insurance? And you tell everybody that, you're going to be in a corner by yourself cuz nobody wants to buy insurance. See, cars are a little different cuz people like cars and you can talk about cars. Doesn't mean they're going to want to buy a car but they like cars, most people.

Insurance. Now insurance salesmen are going to say, but you need insurance. I know. I know you need insurance. My here's my point. What was my point? Yeah, if you go into that room and you start talking to someone and they say, listen, I'll make I didn't say to the other services, I'll make this for me. If they say, what do you do? And I say, I'm a pastor. If they're not saved, they they leave me real fast. I don't tell people I'm a pastor. Not unsaved people. It gets in the way. It really does. So it's the same thing.

If you start your conversation out, can we talk about Jesus and Christianity? You interested in spiritual things? Yeah, I am. You know, my grandma had an angel come here. So wherever that goes, just go with it. Just listen. Just listen. And then another good question is did you go to church as a child? Boy, people like to talk about that. My grandma took me. My parents didn't go but boy, my grandma, you know, there there's something really there's a connection with people when they're little and they get they get hauled off to church. There's something good about that.

They have good memories of that. Let them get into that. Let them talk about that. And then you go to the the two key questions. And you need to remember these. These are the key questions. You ask these questions. Do you know for sure that if you died tonight you'd go to heaven? Do you know for sure that if you died tonight you'd go to heaven? I told you this before but when I first I learned this back in the early '80s and when I first heard that question I thought when I asked that people are going to throw things at me, they're going to swear at me, they're going to get up and leave the room, they're going to say, you're an idiot.

What are you talking about? That's really what I thought would happen. That isn't what happens. It is extremely rare that people react in any negative way to that question. I've never had anyone say one say, what are you talking? Never. Because eternity is written in the hearts of men. People really do care about their souls. They do. And when you ask that question, you're getting deep deep deep deep deep deep inside of their soul. Do you know for sure that if you died tonight you'd go to heaven? And you get all the answers. Oh, I'd go to hell.

I know it. Oh, I don't believe there's a heaven. I don't believe there's a hell. Oh, I know I'd go to heaven. I'm sure. Doesn't matter what they say. Don't worry about that. You're thinking, oh my word, what do I say? Doesn't matter. Doesn't. What matters is the next question. You go right to the next question. You don't address that. Right to the next question. Don't get sucked in. Go right to the next question. God forbid that that would happen that you would die but if you did die and you stood before God and he said, why shall I turn to heaven?

What would you say? If you did die and you stood before God and he said, why shall I turn to heaven? What would you say? The reason that question is so important is you want to find out what they're leaning on for their salvation. What what on what cause will God let them into heaven? And the majority of time it's works because I'm not that bad a person. I shared Christ with a fellow Kabota dealer when I was at when we were Kabota dealers on a on a trip. And he was a valedictorian of his Catholic school.

12 years Catholic school. I said to him, I said if you stood before God and he said to you, why shall I let you His name was Sammy. Sammy, why shall I let you into heaven? What would you say? Valedictorian is what he said. Well, I figured it's a 50/50 deal. I'm the walking angel and I knew he wasn't. He was from New New Iberia, Louisiana. He was a Cajun, hard partier. They started Friday at 5:00 and drank until Monday morning. Hard partying community. He said, I'm the walking angel but I know I'm not in the bottom 50%.

And on the basis of that he was going to heaven. Well, you'll get different variations of that same idea over and over and over but the reason you want to ask that question is now you know what they're leaning on. And so that's an important question. God forbid that you would die today but if you did and you stood before God and he said, why shall I let you into heaven? What would you say? Boy, people will think about that. They'll say, I don't know. I don't know. And if they lean in, keep going. If they lean away, there's no interest.

You may want to consider backing away from that. You may want to. Just be sensitive to that. Again, if you find yourself trying to force locked doors open, you may be ahead of God in this. You know, they say an average of 16 times a person has an interaction with someone about Jesus before they come to Christ. I've heard different numbers but let's say 16. You may be number 15, you may number 14, you may be number 2. You don't have to be the person to close that deal. You just have to leave a good impression of the gospel.

You don't have to figure all that out. Just don't force it because if you do force it, you could make it more difficult for the next person. You know why I think more people don't really witness for Christ? Because so many people have had such a bad experience at an earlier time in their life where someone hammered them so hard with a Bible that they now have this aversion to anyone that does that cuz their experience was so bad. It is a brilliant strategy of the enemy. Let you encounter someone that was so obnoxious that when you first start to think of doing it you go, man, I'm not going there.

I remember what that was like. It's brilliant. Don't let that stop you.

Guest (Male): It's wise to be open to the gospel and to help others be open by asking questions, not forcing the issue. Pastor Tom Keller has more to say about this and we'll save that for next time. This is study the word. You can hear this message again online at ccleb .com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717 273 5633. Have you been helped by the ministry? Let us know that. It would be so encouraging to pastor Tom and the team. Give us a call at 717 273 5633 or write to study the word.

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Study the word with pastor Tom Keller is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Lebanon, Pennsylvania. May God richly bless you as you study the word.