Well, good morning. It's good to be with you. I think this was the location for my first ever sermon many years ago, and it was on the faith of Noah. And I look back at that sermon a little while ago, and I'm thinking, that was a terrible sermon. But I'm so glad to be back with you all. I grew up here, and you all know my parents, many of you. And and it's exciting to be able to be with you this week, teaming up with our church down in Blue Ridge, Virginia, Colonial Baptist Church. I've been a member there for several years, but a youth and music pastor for about a year and a half, and so it is great to be able to serve in different states and different places, and happy to be here this morning. We will be in the book of Colossians chapter four, as we consider this idea of what it means for God to open up doors for us, as it is told in Colossians 4. What does that door opening imagery mean? And so, I want to share an illustration as we As we begin, it points us to this important idea in Colossians 4. Earlier this year, actually part of last fall, my wife and I were looking for a house to buy. Now, for those of you all that are knowledgeable at all about the housing market today, it is crazy. It is insane. And with low interest rates and there's no houses at all available, that means anyone that pops up is just surrounded by, as if vultures are coming after some meat or something like that. And so the market is just crazy. The prices have skyrocketed. We were praying for God to provide a house for us. We would even offer above listed offerings by thousands and got beat out several times. And it was certainly challenging. Finally, we came to this house that was right across the road from where our church is, which is a pretty ideal location for being able to live that close to where you work and where you serve. And it's everything that we could want and then some more. And we made our highest offer possible. but we got outbid by $6,000. Yet, the seller accepted our offer. And there's a lot to that, there's a longer story to that, but suffice it to say that God worked out those details to literally open the door to a new house for us. I mean, there was, we couldn't just go in there and storm down the house and say, this is ours, take it over by force. That doesn't happen in Botetourt County, Virginia. And so we could not, that wasn't part of our capabilities, but God worked this detail out for certainly for something we are extremely grateful for. But just as we think about that open door, if you will, the Bible uses this phrase of an open door when it comes to opportunities to share the gospel with others. So just like in our house search, we can't just use human effort alone in order to accomplish this task. God is the one who opens those doors for us. And at the same time, we do have individual responsibilities as well. So we look into Colossians chapter four, we will understand these four biblical principles for us to follow so that we can take advantage of each opportunity that we have. for the gospel that God, for sharing the gospel that God would give us. So there's four ways we ought to be taking advantage of that. First, it is through prayerfully preaching, and we see that there's three other concepts as well. So as we understand, as we seek to open up God's word, let me just open up in prayer as we ask for God's blessing in this time. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word. We are grateful for the opportunities of open doors for the gospel that you've given. Each one of us already in our lives, some of us have perhaps had open doors for the gospel this past week, certainly seeds being planted as well, and we pray for this upcoming week starting today, starting right now, that we can take opportunities to share your word, others can see the the beauty of the gospel, that they would behold the wondrous mystery as we were singing about earlier, and that they can respond in being obedient to the gospel, being able to declare, Jesus, thank you. And so we thank you for this time, and we pray that you bless it in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're in Colossians chapter four. The book of Colossians is really all about the supremacy of Christ in all things. Christ is all and in all. Christ is glorious. We see some different things that the people of Colossae were combating, some false doctrines that Paul here, the apostle, is warning about. We see that the strength that we find in Christ in our lives as well applies to our individual lives in chapter three. and to our Christian living. It applies to different family and other types of relationships as well in the end of chapter three into the first part of four. So we get into this, if you will, I would say is the beginning of the end of the book as it concludes and we see chapters four, or chapter four verses two through six. Now I'll read through these verses and then we'll go through this piece by piece. Colossians 4, two says this, continue earnestly in prayer. being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time, and let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. So we begin in the first section here, in Colossians 4, verses 2 and 3, we see how we ought to be prayerfully preaching. Now the term preaching, not just in the pastoral setting, but the idea of proclaiming, of sharing, of speaking out the gospel. So the first part of that whole process, though, actually begins with prayer, and it continues in prayer, and it ends with prayers. Paul says, continue earnestly in prayer, to be constantly devoted to prayer. This is something that consumes you. It really exudes from you. Being vigilant in it here, Paul says next. Being vigilant, Paul is saying for those in Colossae to stay alert, to be on the ready. It's like a soldier who's consistently on watch for enemy fire. But the key point here is that your alertness really isn't about human interaction. It's not about you're going into maybe a suspicious part of town or something like that where you're concerned about your physical surroundings, that's not really the idea of staying alert here necessarily in the physical sense. Of course, it is referring to spiritual warfare, the spiritual sense here of being attentive to your obligations as a Christian. When Jesus himself was speaking to his disciples in Mark chapter 14, verse 38, he said to them, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. That word for watch in Mark chapter 14 is that same word for here, for staying alert, being on guard. So both things are necessary to watch, to be on guard spiritually in your life, but, and pray is also vital. So if we're constantly watching for the needs of others, but if we're not really praying for God's strength, for God to work through us, really then we're setting ourselves up for failure. In our flesh, we might be able to accomplish a ministry task. We might be able to put together some kind of VBS. We might be able to put together some kind of Sunday service or Sunday sermon. Or you might be able to put together a children's ministry or any other kind of ministry in the flesh, if God were even to be gracious enough to allow us to do that. But if it's just in our flesh, and if we're not continuing in prayer, if we're not being vigilant in prayer, then we're trusting in a misplaced source. John 15. says, Jesus says in John 15, apart from me, you can do nothing. So, as we think about this, I want us to take a moment to really consider our own lives this week. So if you, whether it's our team members here from Virginia, from our church in Virginia, from you all from Faith Bible as well, what are you relying upon this week for the community week, the Faith Bible's community week to be a success? What are you relying on? Maybe you're just going to wing it. No big deal. Let's just see what happens. Case it all, so it all, right? We'll just go with whatever, go with the flow. Is that really a biblical way to go forward in the Christian life? I don't believe that is continuing earnestly in prayer. That's not really vigilance. Imagine, for example, a soldier goes to his commander and says, well boss, we'll just see what happens. Now I don't think that's going to fly well. We'll just, let's just go out there and hope the enemy doesn't defeat us. That's not going to happen in the military. There's no plan, there's no strategy. That's a deadly plan, isn't it? Why is that not considered a deadly plan spiritually? If we're not prepared, if we're not spiritually prepared, praying vigilantly, And so, as we have this week before us in the midst of spiritual warfare, let's not be like that unready soldier. Let's be prepared for our mission for this week, for coming weeks as well, for any week that we have. Watch and pray. But verse 2 continues, Paul says, watch and pray, or rather in that concept here of continuing earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it, and it says here, with thanksgiving. So our alertness here, our alert prayers aren't just out, you know, of being a stoic, you know, of just having this dutiful feelings, this feeling of of doing your duty, rather, it's more than that, that God has blessed us with this unimaginable spiritual blessings, salvation, giving us his word, giving us his Holy Spirit, where to pray with thanksgiving or with gratefulness. There's a theologian, D.A. Carson, he notes that this kind of prayer imparts spiritual freshness to our prayer life. It's not that we're praying for God to help us with this week because we're just simply obligated to, although as Christians, that's part of our Christian life. We are, certainly that's a reasonable service, but it's even above that. We ought to pray with thanksgiving because of what he's already done for us and what he's already promised for us in the future as well. And those prayers, Paul requests that as these people in Colossae are praying, He's asking them that they would be made for these gospel proclamation purposes. What does he say here? He says, meanwhile praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the word. Opening up a door for the word. It's a very clear image, obviously, of this opening, this enclosing, this access or being denied. Over in 1 Corinthians 16, 9, Paul actually spoke of an open door for ministry there. The reality is that God is sovereign. We don't open the doors for the gospel. He does. And so even if, you know, we're desperately dependent upon God to even be part of God's mission. God is the one who opens the door for the gospel. But as I'm sure many of you know that God is faithful to equip us, to send us, to open these doors for the ministry. if we can be submissive to his will. He's not desiring that any should perish, 2 Peter 3.9 says. There's an Irish theologian named Richard Trench who once said this, prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It's laying hold of his willingness, right? We're not fighting with God over our prayer requests. We're participating in his mission. God desires people to come to know him. And so it's not that we're like really trying to lay hold of God and trying to please come help us with this. No, no. God is desiring. This is his mission. Jesus has sent us forth in this mission. And so we ought to follow him with thanksgiving. So once these doors are open for the gospel witness, Paul says here, we're to speak the mystery of Christ. Now, this mystery of Christ, it could translate as like a mystery that belongs to Christ, it could be a mystery about Christ. I think Colossians chapter one is very helpful. I'm gonna turn back there briefly to Colossians chapter one, verses 26 and 27. Colossians one, 26 to 27 states this. which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to his saints, to them, God will to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This powerful mystery of the things of what God has done. Now, you know, a mystery in scripture It isn't so much like the great cartoon of the Scooby-Doo and Shaggy and the Mystery Immobile. They're trying to solve the mystery, right? They're trying to find things that are hard to locate or whatever the case might be. It's not quite that. I think it's more of like a stage and there's a curtain in front of the stage, but behind this curtain there is something glorious. And this mystery has been revealed, it's been opened up. We behold the glory of Christ and who he is, what he's done for us. One of the great parts of that in Colossians chapter one says that Christ is in you. And it was even for the Jews and the Gentiles. And so this mystery is really this unveiling of the plan of God comes to who Christ is, what he's done for us. The good news about Jesus, his death, his burial, his resurrection That is powerful enough to cover our sins, to make us right with God. Ephesians 3.17 even says that Christ makes a home in our hearts. This concept that Christ is in us is a life-changing message if you really think through it. It's so vital to get out that Paul is even willing to go to prison for it. He says he's in chains. So we should be prayerfully preaching. We should be prayerfully proclaiming the word of God. So this week, prayer is absolutely vital. If we're just going to go and wing it like a soldier who's not prepared, who's not ready spiritually, we're in a failing task. We're in a spiritually dangerous mission. We must have a plan, and that plan is to be prayerfully preaching. The second part here is also to be properly speaking. Verses, chapter four again. into verse four, which says this. Paul says that I may make it manifest, this mystery of Christ, as I ought to speak. So why does Paul want his audience to pray for him? So he can communicate the mystery of Christ, the message of the gospel. He wants this mystery to become known to others. There are wrong ways in communicating the gospel, actually. One way would be to distort the gospel. Perhaps you could attach some legalism to it. That's a way to distort the gospel. Extra requirements. Many did that in Paul's day. We read through the book of Galatians. That's a huge part of that. But that's a wrong way to communicate the gospel. Maybe a more contemporary problem we see quite often is being vague in your communication of the gospel. For example, the gospel is not simply that God exists. That's important. You need to have a God who exists. You have the gospel. But the gospel, the good news to others, is that there is a God there. Now, you need to have that stated, but it's more than that. You know, I'm not trying to be extremely critical of this movie that came out called God's Not Dead, but in that movie, I think it was probably more helpful to Christians than non-Christians, because as it was going through this whole movie, if you've seen that, it's refuting atheism, which is kind of a big deal to talk about, for sure. But as you go through the movie, the clincher is that this atheist professor finally realizes that God exists, and I won't spoil what happens after that, but something happens to him. But for the message of that, it's never really communicated what's the distinctiveness about Christianity. What's the distinctiveness about Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection? I'm not trying to say that the movies are trying to replace evangelism, but I'm just saying, in that, we don't really see the connection on why this former Muslim becomes a Christian, why this person from, an atheist from China becomes a Christian. Because it's just explaining that God exists. The gospel is more than that. The gospel is not just that he exists, not just that God is there, but that God has done something for us. And it's the message of what Jesus has done here. The gospel is the good news that God, who exists, sent his son Jesus to this world. He lived this perfect life. He fulfilled the law of God. He was taken by men. He was crucified on a cross. He bled and died specifically for our sins. He absorbed the wrath of God that was due to us, but he also rose again and he proved that he was the victor over sin, over death. He's coming back one day. This is the message of the New Testament in miniature. Now, you don't have to use those exact words that I did right there, but they should be synonymous. It's this idea pointing to the cross, pointing to the resurrection of Jesus, and in that message that is applied to us looking back to the cross. looking forward to a second coming is that we can be saved. We can be saved from our sin. That we can be made right with God. So as we look forward to the community week, we certainly want to pray for one another to communicate the gospel properly and clearly We certainly want to be energetic at our children's ministry outreach. Is the financial one going to be energetic too, I'm assuming? But certainly we want the children's ministry to be energetic and to be an encouragement to them and speak gospel truth to them in a powerful way. The most important thing is to communicate the gospel clearly, full clarity. That's what we want to push towards. And so that kids and adults likewise can hear the saving message of Christ and what he's done for us. So in addition to that, we should be, as we see in verse number five, productively living. So let me read you verse 5. It says this, Really, this should be a key verse for us as we seek to live a godly testimony in front of the, if you will, the unsaved, unbelievers. Our walk, that's our behavior, that's what we do every day, that's how we conduct our lives. It says here that we should be walking wisely. Now, and it really emphasizes to those that are outside, in particular, those who are not believers in Jesus. Now, how to walk wisely? That's the question. Well, the book of Proverbs teaches us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so we get our wisdom from God himself through having a proper knowledge of who he is and his word. Notably, though, there is a, I think there is a difference on how we interact with believers and how we interact with unbelievers in terms of accountability. For example, in 1 Corinthians 5, 12, and 13, Paul asks, After all, he says, that God will judge those that are outside, the unbelievers. Conversely, we as Christians, we hold one another accountable Because we have a higher standard that we have to hold to. We are the ones that are considered, we have the testimonies of being saved by grace through faith in Christ. And we have a lost and dying world that needs to see a true reflection of who Jesus is. And so, how do we conduct ourselves before the unsaved? We walk wisely, it says here. Now, certainly wisely before believers as well. But he's talking about unbelievers in this context. You know, there's a church out in the Midwest, this is more of an extreme example of the opposite of this, called Westboro Baptist Church, and they have a website, and I'm not gonna say the whole name, because it's really, really offensive, but in their website, it refers to God hates, and the third word there is a pejorative term for somebody who's a homosexual. And, I mean, think about that. That is who you're known as. That is not walking wisely. You know, yes, the Bible's very clear on the teaching of homosexuality being outside of God's will, but our approach towards unbelievers shouldn't be speaking of words of death to them, but how you can receive words of life. And certainly, we should speak those words of the gospel to them. We shouldn't be surprised then when unbelievers act like unbelievers. Now, if a believer claims Christ and is living in this way, that's where the accountability comes in. That's what Paul says in that context of 1 Corinthians, that you should hold those two accounts. But to the lost and dying world, they don't need just to be given a better morality, they need to be given salvation. And that's what Paul, I think, is calling for us here to do today as well. We should be walking wisely in front of them. That's an extreme example with Westboro Baptist. Now, it can apply to our daily decisions here as well. For example, when I was detailing some do's and don'ts for this week for our team, our secretary back in Virginia helped us put together some of these servant leaders' guides on what to expect throughout the week. There's a lot of material in there, a lot of scheduling, a lot of things like that. One of the things in there, though, that I reminded them of is about how to dress. Now I'm not trying to say that I'm great in modern attire, but the idea is, I was encouraging them to not have any kind of clothing that would be purposely offensive, purposely political. Now why? because I don't want them to have an additional stumbling block for the gospel's sake. That's why I encourage, please, I mean, when you go back home and your convictions, you can figure this out. But for this week, let's not have any extra roadblocks to the gospel. It's already enough of a chasm to bridge as is. Let's not put up unnecessary barriers. Now, how that might play out in your life each and every day might be different. It might not be a shirt. It might be something else in your life. It might be your talk. It might be the way that you work and your work ethic. It might be the way that you speak of other people. But shouldn't this be true of us all the time, that we should walk in wisdom towards those that are outside? That's how I think we can see we can have, if you will, productive living. But the verse, number five, Continues here at the end of verse five, Paul says, redeeming the time. Now redeem is a commercial term. It's this idea of buying up. Some would maybe translate this as making the most use of your time. Imagine there's this empty lot of land that you just inherited and you could just stand by there forever and just let it be. There it is, there's the lot. Or you could build something there, make it more valuable. You know, I've actually said to our students before that there's a resource more valuable than money. Even the wealthiest people in all the world have a limited resource in this, and it's time. So with our time as Christians, many of us don't make the use of our time to try to speak gospel truth into the lives of others. We're like that empty lot where it's just there. We're not making it more valuable than it is. We're just stagnating, perhaps. But with this precious time that we're given, especially this next week together, we need to make the most use of our time. Let's redeem the time. Let's buy this time up and use it for the sake of the gospel. And the fourth point here is that we should be powerfully Responding, verse six says this, One of the most important parts of walking in wisdom in front of unbelievers would be our speech. That's what they hear from us. That's what we're communicating to them. Not just bodily communication, but verbal communication, perhaps even more so. We're to use our speech with grace. Now it says here, not just sometimes, but always with grace. Christians really not ought to be thought of as harsh and angry people. We should be demonstrating grace towards others in the words that we use. Paul uses this phrase as well. He says, our speech is seasoned with salt. Now there was a salt lake close to Colossae and Phrygia, so Paul's audience definitely has a feel for the importance of salt, the significance of that. It can be a healing effect, it can be preserving, it can be an enhancement. There's different ways you can maybe look at that. But in 2018, I had the opportunity to go to Peru, in South America. to teach at a Bible college for a few weeks. We got to see Mount Machu Picchu, which was an incredible experience, of course. But one of our excursions is we went to the salt mines in a town called Maras, M-A-R-A-S, Maras. And that was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. You had to go through around a cliff just to drive there and get there. But there was this magnificent salt mine that you would get to. Many of the products there that you would find in Peru use this salt from the salt mines of Maras. Now, my wife, probably like most women, you can tell me if I'm wrong later, this can be the hate mail later, but she's a lover of all things chocolate, and I'm guessing that's probably true of some of you over here. So I brought home this chocolate bar from Peru that had salt in it, actually from the salt mines of Maras. And as we bit into this chocolate, we found that this was the most unbelievably enjoyable bar of chocolate we've ever had, bar none. That's not a pun. But the idea is that, I mean, we were, I mean, I've been thinking about just flying down to Peru to go back to that. I mean, it was that incredible. What was, what really kind of made that a difference? I think it was the salt mines. I think it was the salt from Maras. I think it was the salt that enhanced it so incredibly. And as you think about this too, the Word of God, although it is in conflict with so much in modern society, we can remember these things, that our speech can be grace-filled. It can be speech that is really, that the Word of God would enhance our speech, that it becomes palatable to them, at least spiritually. Maybe at first it bothers them, but it can be powerful to impact others for the sake of the gospel. And then finally, we get to this last section here as well, as we finish up this passage here, so that you may know how you can answer each one. We're to follow these principles here of of communication of the gospel, we could look at this here and say, you may know how to answer each one. And that can be kind of overwhelming at first. You're thinking, every single person in the world I have to have an awesome answer for? And at the same time, I think we should remember this in context, that the continuation of everything here is that if our speech is already with grace, if it's seasoned with salt, Even sometimes we might have a really deep question that we've never thought about before, and we could respond and just be dismissive. I don't think that's being seasoned with salt. We can respond being angry at them for not believing the gospel or something like that. That's not filled with grace. That's not really the proper response. How you answer each person is already explained here. Now, at the same time, there is that human responsibility that we should be well prepared to have a reason for the hope that is in us. 1 Peter 3.15 reminds us, Now, once again, that spirit of defense is still graciousness, right? To be done with meekness and fear, at the same time, we're to be equipped with that biblical knowledge to answer critics as well. There's this coupling then, that you're prepared to speak to others the word of God, but also that you're to demonstrate kindness. In other words, your walk should match your talk. So how then, as we conclude this message here, how should we take advantage of each open door for the gospel that God gives us? And I don't just mean if you're teaching a Bible lesson, like in a group setting. I'm talking about at the picnic tomorrow, just mingling with somebody else, even here, maybe after the service. At the Bible clubs when there's a little bit of downtime beforehand, afterwards. It's really when you're teaching the memory verses for some of our teams here doing that, singing our songs that we're trying to give gospel truth through. But there are these other times as well that you might have an opportunity. And I think it'll be very clear to you when that door is just wide open, somebody asks you a question. Somebody says something that the Word of God has an answer to. That is your opportunity for the gospel. If we're just, again, if we're just going through this week and if we're just kind of waiting around to see what God does, but we're not prayerfully preaching, I think we're missing it. Our witness begins and it continues and it ends with prayer. We're totally relying upon God for any evangelistic opportunity in the first place. This is something that God must draw men to himself. We must pray for God to do this. So are you praying for opportunities this week for the gospel to go forth? And secondly, to be properly speaking, we need to be able to clearly and concisely explain what the gospel is. Now, that might even mean that you have to practice some things this week, that you have to be prepared. Let's just say, just to give this example, a person comes to you and says, I don't know why I should become a Christian. Would you know how to answer them? Would you have any kind of response other than, well, you should, or is there a reason for the hope that is in you that can be done seasoned with salt, filled with grace? Consider that as well. Third, to be productively living, we need to live wisely before those who don't know Christ. Maybe they've never read the Bible before, but they do get a glimpse of what it means to be a Christian when they see you. Or at least they get that picture of what a Christian is. Is that a good picture? Is it something that is worth emulating? And then finally, to be powerfully responding, our words, again, need to be full of grace, seasoned with salt. Are your words really invitational to the gospel, or are they confrontational? Are they building bridges for the gospel's sake, or are they simply burning bridges? We ought to be letting our speech be filled with grace, seasoned with salt, so that we may know how to answer each one. So my prayer then for all of us is to follow hard after God's principles laid out here in Colossians 4 for the sake of the gospel. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the gospel. Certainly, the only reason that we're really here today and this week to share your word is because we've first been affected by this great truth, by this great message of Christ. I pray that we would seek prayerfully each day, each even moment of the day, to have these doors of the gospel open to us, and that we could be ready in those times, that we would remember to be filled with grace, that we would have a spirit and an attitude that would truly be inviting, and we're praying that you would use us in a great and powerful way this week. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.