I used to be in a church that when you had a birthday, they had a birthday cake up front, you had to put money in it. I think you're supposed to put, if you're young, you put a penny in for every year. If you're older, you put a dollar in for every year. I think I'm going to do that for now for people who prerequest songs. Five bucks. Five bucks. Five bucks. All right. Well, we're going back to the language of spiritual maturity. Number two, and we're almost at the end here, I actually might get a Wednesday night Christmas message in. I talked to my son-in-law, who will be coming up from Lumberton, North Carolina, and I asked him, I said, you know what, would you like to preach the Christmas Eve morning message? And he said, I'm all Christmas preached out. And I said, well, you better find one more message, buddy. And I told myself, I'll take the candlelight service, and you take the AM morning service. And because I have been approaching whether we're going to have a Sunday school hour on that Christmas Eve day. And there's a lot of things going on that particular day there. We may decide to just bypass Sunday school and go right to the 11 AM service, then the 6 o'clock service on the 24th. I'll try to get that in my head, get it in the bulletin. So on there. And probably the Wednesday after Christmas, we're going to have a Wednesday service because so much family is in. we'll have a full-blown we might as well go we'll be half a day well half a day yeah it's a fifth Sunday so it's a short short afternoon and so on there so we'll just go Sunday school a.m. and then our afternoon service for sure. Colossians chapter 4, we already looked at some of the verses and the Apostle Paul speaking, he says there in verse 3, it says, well actually begin in verse 1, masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. continue in prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving. With all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak." Knowing how to speak is important, amen? We need to know how to speak as Christians and we ought not to be one of those conflicted fountains that James speaks of. Can a fountain give forth salt water and fresh water together? And the answer is no. The salt water is always going to taint the fresh water. So our speech ought not to betray who we are. And, of course, in New Testament, he's a beret, and that was what Peter, his speech around the campfire kind of gave away that he was one of the disciples until he finally vehemently denied knowing Christ along the way there. But I wonder if sometimes that speech doesn't cause others to wonder about us and where we are in our lives. But tonight we're looking at the language of spiritual maturity II. It's our speech in proclamation. And so our previous message from Colossians 4 verse 2 dealt with our speech and prayer. We stated that prayer is one of the most important conversations we'll ever participate in. Amen? Our prayer with the Lord. Now it's important for us to talk with others and communicate with others for sure, but the most important one of our day will always be our conversation with the Lord. So we also stated that prayer is one of our most necessary weapons that we can use against Satan and his relentless attacks. Because in and of ourselves, we're no match for the devil. I don't care how smart you are, I don't care how good you are, I don't care how strong you are, the fact of the matter is we're no match. Compositely, we're not even a match for the devil. But you know what? When we're on our knees before the Lord, He's no match for us. What a difference, what a difference that makes, amen. So then we stated that it is the only means by which we can obtain forgiveness of our sin through prayer. You can think it all you want to think it, but you know you do have to actually come out and ask, Lord I'm sorry for having transgressed you, so Lord please forgive me. And the Apostle Paul now turns our attention to the nature and the character of our proclaiming the gospel to a lost and a dying world. Doors of opportunity, as the Apostle Paul continues in his conversation about prayer, he asks specifically for others to join him in God providing opportunities for witness. We should be doing that for one another. We should be praying and saying, Lord, if so and so is out and about, wherever they might be there, and I know that Tom has talked about oftentimes being able to share the gospel at work and not always meeting with that kind of ruffians that you get out that way. Who needs the Lord, you know, as far as you're concerned? But we should be praying and saying, okay, listen, Lord, you know that Tom's around here. help them to be able to kind of break through that barrier that the Devil Jesus is constantly raising up. Others in different places, different, you know, came at school system there. We know that the school system operates on a different foundation, I guess, as far as the world goes, it operates on a very worldly platform. And so being able to I've got open doors for her and for others that are around now. Peg's retired, so now we have to pray that she'll be able to spread the gospel in the house once in a while. I will be her audience for most of tonight now. Either I'm hers or she's mine. I'm not sure which one it goes anyway. But anyway, others are out and about. I know that Steve's a witness at work, because Mike has customers that he has to deal with out there when opportunities come along. So we should be praying. Others who have unsafe family members to be able to talk, especially during this time of the year, when hearts are somewhat looking in a direction. There's a lot of people that don't understand that Christmas is a religious holiday. For us, it's more than just a religious holiday. It's a proclamation of the Father keeping a promise and having sent his son, Clark. No, it's interesting. You just ruined it. Oh, how did I do that? Because you said happy holidays and I want Merry Christmas. Hanukkah. Is it Hanukkah? Hanukkah, yeah. Yeah. That's right, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, a lot of times companies tell their employees they have to do that. So you step on the plate first. If you say it first, then they'll be OK with it. So they'll send me to go talk. I know when I sign my thing, I sign it, Reverend James came, and they'll say, oh, Merry Christmas, by the way. And I said, you better have said that, because if you weren't, you'd be going right there. You're going down low, down low. Anyway, so there's doors of opportunities, as he mentions, that he wanted others to pray that when he gave out the gospel, and Peggy's on my, quite a bit about this, we give out tracts and forget about it sometimes in the conversation around when you're out, and you're giving out a tract. And her idea was to pray for that track. Pray that that person will actually read that track. As you're saying your grace and ask God's blessing on the table. So give out a track. If you want to give out a track, make sure you give a good tip. Don't turn around and give them a nickel and say this and that. Be generous and be gracious because that may give them a greater incentive to be able to want to read that particular tract. But we do need to really hold each other up and about when we're going about. Maybe you're going someplace and you say, listen, I'm going to a doctor's. I know that Tom has witnessed doctors and I've done the same thing. We've talked to doctors and nurses about the Lord and so on there. We need to pray that the individuals who are going into hospital appointments or doctor's appointments and whatever. I mean I gave my dentist a four CD series on creation and of course he's Jewish. So I don't know if you ever read them. or not, but I said, you know, we got in somehow, we got in a conversation there and I stared at it and I said, listen, I've got four CDs. You're gonna, you're gonna love these CDs. And it was from Answers in Genesis out there. And so I don't know if he ever did, but we just keep on praying that someday he gets bored or a snowstorm comes and he's stuck in there and he can't do anything else. He'll have to listen to those for a while. But anyway. We may be reluctant to knock on an individual's or stranger's doors, but if we ask for God to open doors of opportunities, then we should be ready and willing to seize the moment. So if you get up in the morning and you say, Lord, lay some soul in my heart today. Open the doors that I can share the gospel with them. And when that person comes into your life, don't say, it can't be this one, can't be that one, not this one either. Then you find at the end of the day that God probably sent five or 10 people by you, and you never said a single thing to them. You say, you get up the next morning and listen, what's the point? You're going to select and pick and choose who you want anyway. But anyway, we should and we also can see the need on our part to enlist the prayer support of others on our behalf. James chapter 5 and verse 16a says the effectual and perfect prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So I need to keep my life where it's supposed to be so when I pray for you folks here, God's going to hear. There's not this sin or this rebellious wall that's hanging between me and the Lord, or myself and the Lord, so that when I'm praying for others and praying for certain aspects of the ministry here, the Lord simply says, listen, you've got to take care of this over here. You've got to take care of this over here. So it doesn't matter how mature we may be spiritually. or how faithful we are, the battles that we face are always such that we need to enlist others in the spiritual warfare that you and I face. We cannot fight this battle alone. That's why the local church is so important. We develop relationships, we develop friendships through the local church, and we can pray one for another as we get to know that person a little bit. The more you fellowship with someone, the more you know them, the more you know about them, and you wanna remain friends, you're gonna pray for them, right? Okay. How do we know that? Well, Colossians chapter one and verse nine. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that she might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That was important for him to send this letter, this epistle to the believers in the city of Colossae because he wanted them to be full of the knowledge and the spirit. Now, we can also look over, he says, they do not cease to pray for you, and in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, of course we already know what that one is as soon as you mention 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and verse 25, he says, brethren, pray for us. pray for us. And we ought to be willing and ready to pray for one for another. And don't be afraid to enlist. I'll give a call to you. Listen, I'm going to be going to the doctor. I'm going to work this morning and maybe give a nighttime call or something like that. Listen, I'm going to work tomorrow and I really just feel God's willing this opportunity for me to be able to present the gospel and pray for me. Pray for me, if you would. And so we know that we're to pray without ceasing according to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, but we're also, as he says, pray one for another. Then Hebrews 13 and verse 18, Well, if I can get that page, there we go. In the end there, the scripture simply says this tonight. Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly. The word with all that we see in a couple of these verses means at the same time. So Paul is asking for a continual prayer. a time when others would get together for prayer time. Our missionaries send us their missionary letters to kind of keep us abreast of what's going on on their mission field. And then they put down prayer requests so that when we come together as a church, we can pray for them. And that's probably about as much as it really gets done for our missionaries. Wednesday night, when we should be able to go by and pick up the mission letters and actually take and write down those requests to take them home personally. Amen. And I think we could do that without too much difficulty. Now, I don't know if we have to make up some sort of a card that you could pick up if you want to, or do we post those at first up there in the bulletin board? We don't. So we do so. So I'm going to think of a system so that we can actually be able to take the prayer request and praise us. Because it's not just in the Lord, this missionary needs this, this missionary needs that. Lord, thank you for answering this missionary's request. And Lord, thank you for the souls they just saved. So there's usually needs and praises that are on those letters. So if we had both of those, it'd be wonderful to be able to hand out and to disseminate. So I'll try to read them from a Wednesday night here. And then once Carrie gets them, maybe she could just kind of jot them down and, or so on there. Cause I've got the cards and stuff at home that we could run them off. You could email them to me and I can just print them off an email and whatever. Or we could set up, there we go. What are you doing, Chris? Would you like to put together an email? Everybody get on their email list, and we could actually email them to their houses. That would be the best way. So if you have an idea, I'm just brainstorming up here. It's not in my notes at all. But if we're going to take it really seriously, then why not be able to email just the praises and the prayer requests, put the missionary name, and then have their prayer requests and their praises. So it's not just on a Wednesday night. It's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday we're praying for him until we get the next letter. Kimmy? He can actually set up daily reminders, Pastor, to automatically send out those emails, which I'm sure Steve or I didn't know, that would just automatically send them out. OK. Who wants to set it up? I can set it up. Go ahead. You got it. Amen. That would be wonderful. That's how we evolve. We grow a little bit. Amen. Thank you for all these people who have this technology and all this business. If I tried to mass email, I'd probably be ended up seeing them around the world, and nobody would know who I was or whatever was going on there. So I don't even know if I can even set it up on my phone. I get it now, so it buzzes every time I get an ad, and I can't figure out how to get it in here. I mean, that thing's going beep, beep, beep, whatever it does there. I'm thinking to myself, why? There's no text. There's no incoming call or anything. And it's just stupid advertisement. And I think we ought to send a note to them as well. That is, if you advertise, I will never buy it. I never do anyway. I never do. Anyway, so we have a record of the first United Prayer Meeting in Acts chapter 1. We're all familiar with that, where the Holy Spirit came down as a cloven tongues. And I think there's some unique things in there in Acts chapter 1, beginning in verse 13. In verse 13 it simply says there, And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew and Philip and Thomas and Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon Zelotes and Judas the brother of James, which is a half-brother of Christ. So that means Judas and James are both half-brothers of Christ. Verse 14 says, These all continue with what? One accord. That is why it's so important for a church to be on the, everybody in the church, pretty much on the same page spiritually. Doctrally and spiritually, we ought to be on the same page because, you know, if we're conflicted in our fellowship, we don't have any strength. We don't have any power whatsoever. We're going to be anemic, that's a new short word there, anemic, anemic and weak Christians if we're not of one accord. Now, he says there, these all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and of course he chose a lot there. But the idea is with one accord comes from a compound Greek word, and it is used only 12 times in the New Testament. And this word really gives us the uniqueness of our Christian community in the Holy Spirit's ability to bring us together in one mind, one heart, and one soul. A conflicted congregation is not under the power of the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God is going to lead us into a singleness, whereas a conflicted spirit, a carnal fellowship, is going to be all over the place. And we need to be in one accord. And that certainly should be in our prayer list. I know that our missions are going to be very devastated if this church ever had a split or could begin to get away from it. How are you going to support missions? The last thing in the world you want to do is to have to write a mission and say, listen, we'd like to be able to send you support. We have to drop you because we had a split. over something, usually most of us are over something foolish anyway. But when it comes right down to it, we ought to be praying. So Lord, may there be harmony, may there be a oneness, may we be all directed by the Holy Spirit of God so that we can be strong for our missionaries. Strong in prayer and strong in finances. It's so critical that we do that. So it's not just a matter of what's at stake as far as I'm personally concerned, but it's our overall ministry that we have to be concerned about. So this is not a verse that could ever be used to support or encourage ecumenicalism. Ecumenicalism sets aside the need of the Holy Spirit of God to bring like-minded believers into a doctrinal setting of... I'm getting it backwards here. It does not bring like-minded believers into a doctrinal setting of absolute truth because you've got people who believe different things. You've got the Roman Catholic Church believes one thing about salvation. They have not only Jesus Christ as Savior, but also Mary. Who bothers with Christ when you go to Mary? You go through so many different things in their church. How do you really sit down and have a prayer meeting with them? How do you sit down and have a fellowship with them? Other than just simply, hey, it's a good day, sun shining, snow, whatever. You can have that kind of a conversation. But how do you get with the charismatics? How do you get with the neo-evangelicals? How do you get with those who don't even have the right Bible? And have fellowship with them on that basis there and expect that somehow... I mean that's a conflicted group. And so we need to be of one mind and of one heart. So the problem with ecumenism is they want you to set aside your doctrines and come together on what they have in common, which is what? Not much of anything. If you think about it. So they encourage the setting aside of those doctrines which they deem as being divisive no matter how biblically correct those doctrines may be. But you see that's the purpose of doctrines. The doctrines are supposed to separate the dark from the light, the right from the wrong, the righteous from the unrighteousness. That's the purpose of doctrine. You can't set it aside and still be right. They are searching for a common ground base upon compromises, what they're after. God does not compromise truth. God never, ever, ever, ever, ever compromises truth. Don't you ever, ever, ever compromise truth, because if you do, you're not walking with the Lord. And the Bible says in 1 John chapter 1, it said if you say you have fellowship with Him, you walk in darkness, then what do you do? He said you lie. So in Acts chapter 2, in verses 41 through 47, So then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto the church about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man needed. Now, verse 46 says, And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Sounds like a fun time. But it can only be a fun time when everybody's doing what God wants them to do. Everybody's doing what God wants them to do in the direction of the Holy Spirit. So He can give to every one of us different spiritual gifts and there's no conflict there. He will guide through the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. He will guide and direct every spiritual gift or gifts that's been given to the individuals who have been saved and use them for one common cause. And He'll bring us to that oneness in that thing there. But I want you to notice that the Apostle Paul didn't ask them to pray for his personal needs, such a release from prison or release from any suffering. However, Paul was totally convinced of the practical value and the power that existed in prayer. His greatest concern was the ability to present the gospel clearly and that the power of the Holy Spirit would be present. The power that God gives to us and the development of that spiritual gift should be for one purpose only and that is to be able to get the gospel of Jesus Christ out there so others can hear it and others will sense and see the truth. It has that power to pierce that darkness that the devil tries to cloud the minds and the hearts of the unsaved around us on a daily basis. Most important, Paul wanted an open door. open opportunities to be able to share Christ with others. Even while he was in prison in Rome, he used his imprisonment and his house arrest, if you will. Many people came to see him and some soldiers got saved and some of the centurions got saved. The pastor of Dubai got saved. So he didn't sit there and stew and brew about being in this set of circumstances or that set of circumstances here. He said, I'm here, I'm using it for God's glory. He did it while he was swimming to shore when the ship had fallen apart on the island of Crete, if you will. It's the idea of being able to seize each and every opportunity. Now, we can't look at problems and adverse circumstances as being somehow, that's not what you meant. That may have been what God meant. That's his answer to your prayer. Use the adversity to be able to present the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wouldn't you think they would have more power? I mean, if you're going through something very difficult and you're sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with someone, do you think that would have more power? I would think so. So, he wanted an open door, open opportunities. The reason for an open door was to speak the mystery of Christ, as we see in chapter 4. Back in Colossians. And then he says there, and he says, with all, praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, which I am also in bonds. It's not a mystery to you and I, who are the redeemed of the Lord. Romans 5, 8 may still remain a mystery as to why he would love us first and care when we didn't care one whit about him. But much of the mystery is revealed to you and I, as it pertains to those things hidden in the Old Testament, revealed in the New Testament, things spoken of in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now revealed in the New Testament, person of Christ. Colossians 1.26 and 27, we're familiar with that one. And verse 26 says there, Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to us, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is what? Christ in you, the hope of glory. They never could have conceived, because everything the Jews did, Old Testament wise, was always external. Now, there should have been an internal desire, an internal act of faith that served as an incentive for doing those things there, but it became very ritualistic, it became very external, it became very fleshly, if you will. And of course, now the mystery here is, which is Christ in you, the hope of God? How could they have ever imagined that the Messiah would live within us? Not a mystery to you and I. Also in Colossians chapter two, and verses two and three, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom I hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." 1st Corinthians 15 back to 1st Corinthians and beginning in verse 51 Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trump shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, and the dreaded death is swallowed up in victory." What a blessing it is to be alive. Post-Cross, Amen? Ephesians 5, verse 23. We get ready to close here tonight. Ephesians 5, verse 23. Okay, I've got to rethink my thoughts here again. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the, what? head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. God didn't compare the wilderness tabernacle to the institution of the family, did he? But he does the redeemed of the Lord in the New Testament. Both the church of the New Testament and the institution of marriage operate under the same spiritual dynamics. That's why it is so important for our young people to make good decisions about whom they marry. Because that family is supposed to be a picture of the church. Therefore, same-sex marriages could never be ordained by God under any circumstance without destroying the true character and the purpose of the body of Christ. There, there, there, there, what's the word I'm looking, don't want to use the word, inextricably tied together. You cannot separate one without the other, without doing damage to either one or both. The principle of the institution of marriage and the principle of the body of Christ are inseparably linked together. 1st Timothy chapter 3. This is a true saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires the good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given the hospitality, apt to teach. Whoops, went too many. Not given a wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy looker, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Wow, that's that important. It's part of the mystery that only believers who believe in the plenary inspiration of the scriptures concerning the Word of God can comprehend it. And only we can comprehend it because the Holy Spirit of God leads us to comprehend it. So in a nutshell, Christ is the mystery. who he is, why he became flesh, what he did for us on the cross, how it is that he can change the hearts and the lives of folks, what it is that he is doing through his body of believers, the local church. But last we see in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 4, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. To be able to be clear, because a bad presentation done in the flesh can do more harm than it can do good. Now I know that God's word will not go forth void, but that's the word of God. If you and I, if we are, as James chapter 5 verse 16 says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth, certainly then we could say the same about the sharing of the gospel. It needs to be proclaimed. It needs to be proclaimed accurately. It needs to be proclaimed prayerfully. And it needs to be guided by the Holy Spirit of God. It needs to be done in compassion, graciously, and lovingly, no matter to whom you are witnessing. whether they have a dog collar, they have ears, big drums in them, or whatever they put in those things. I have no idea what they do or why they do it, but I guess they think it looks cool. But you know what? They need to know Christ, just like anybody else does. Amen? Alright, prayer time here real quick. We got some prayer time. Getting close to chapter 4 finished. If you didn't get a prayer card,