We're in Colossians chapter four, and we're kind of closing out the heart of the letter with these verses. And we'll get to sort of like the closing after this, but we're just going to look at a couple of verses today. It's going to be verses two to six of chapter four of Colossians. It's all about how we should pray and how we should speak to people. Very, very practical section of scripture. I'm going to read the scripture And after I pray, and I'm going to tell you a story, but I wrote it out because I wanted to get it right. So I was thinking about an experience that we had, and I wanted to share that with you. But let's pray. Our Father and our God, we pause before the reading of your word. And Lord, how sweet your word is. Lord, we pray that you would use your word to change us, Lord, to reshape our thinking, to align us with truth. And Lord, we need help in the area of prayer. We need help in the area of how do we communicate with each other and how we communicate with a lost world. So Lord, let your word teach us. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Colossians 4, verse 2 to verse 6. 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 towards those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. So we'll start with the subject of prayer. And that's the illustration of a little story I want to tell you. I cannot remember. every prayer, or even most of my prayers that I've prayed over the years. But I do remember the first time that I prayed with my wife. We came to the Lord in our early 20s, and I was beginning to be taught by the Lord through the Word. We were in the car in our driveway in a small rented apartment and we were venturing out to look for a larger home for our growing family. We had two children at the time. I looked at Karen and I said, well, let's pray before we go. And I took her hand and I can't remember what all I prayed. I was nervous and I was uncomfortable, but we did ask God to guide us. We were rushing out to look at a rental home in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, because I had seen an ad in the newspaper. And I thought, if we get there right away before the first ones to respond to this ad, we could beat all contenders. We got there, and I could not find the house. It didn't exist. I stopped, and this is how long ago this was, I stopped at a pay phone. And I called the number that was in the ad, and the person who answers said, I don't know what you're talking about. We didn't place any ad. And I was absolutely deflated. We looked across the street, and it was a modular home display. So my wife and I talked. We decided to stop in and talk to the salesman. Turned out it was a Christian company. It was a Christian man that we talked to. They showed us the houses they had, and we didn't have any money. And I said, do you have any smaller houses than what you have on display? And the gentleman said, we do. And he pulled out some papers and some drawings and showed them to us, and was a little teeny rancher. That meeting led to a chain of events that were completely beyond my ability and way outside of our control. And to cut the story short, we were able to secure a loan, which was a miracle in itself at that time. We purchased that house. We had it set on land 10 miles outside of a town called Great Cacapin, West Virginia. And 35 years later, we still live in that house that God provided through prayer. Now Karen and I have prayed about a lot of things since, but I can always remember that first time I prayed with my wife. And I thought, I feel really weird doing this, Karen. And I held her hand, and she said, okay. And I did that simple little nervous prayer that God would guide us. And that led us on a long journey of raising kids, pastoring churches, ministry. And as you do, I'm sure, we pray all the time. And it's a very natural thing. But we had to learn how to pray. And the Bible instructs us, how should we pray? How should we pray? And look at verse two of chapter four. And I just want to break this apart. When I read that text, we just kind of zoomed right across. But there's a lot here if we really start to dissect it and look at what Paul is conveying through the Spirit to the church. He says, continue earnestly. Continue earnestly. Now I'm going to butcher some Greek. But it's important for us to go to these original words to say, well, it's translated that we should pray earnestly in my new King James, but what's the Greek word? And what does that Greek word mean? So I'm going to do my best here and say the Greek word is proskartereo. It's a compound word. There's two words to that. Pros implies motion or direction or leaning towards something. It's a direction. Cartereo means to be earnest towards or persevere. It describes a steadfast, single-minded fidelity to a certain course of action. We're leaning in. This is something that we're willfully doing on purpose and leaning into a prayer life, is what Paul is saying. We can look at the psalmist in Psalm 55 and his habitual prayer. This is what the psalmist says in verse 16. He says, as for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. At some part of our Christian life, we had to decisively make a decision that we were going to pray. We don't always feel like praying, but we decided, you're my God. I need you. I have no strength. I don't know what to do. And you probably do what I do. I find myself praying all the way through the day. I think, well, I have my prayer time, but then how many times do we usher up a little quick prayer before we answer the telephone? I get these little messages on my computer from people that say, oh, I got Mrs. Johnson on the back line. Can I transfer it to you? And she's pretty upset. always do a quick prayer. I'm like, yeah, go ahead and send her over or whatever. And I'm like, Lord, work in this lady's heart and let me know what to say and what not to say. But it's habitual. We choose to pray. I was rereading yesterday the story of Daniel. And everybody knows Daniel and the lion's den. And there's the story of Daniel who ends up in the lion's den. Do you know why he ended up in the lion's den? Do you remember that? Because King Darius, these satraps and governors were jealous of Daniel. Daniel was one of three governors and he had all these officials under him. They didn't like Daniel. So they went to the king and said, hey king, we've got a great idea. Why don't you make an edict? Why don't you make an edict that there is to be no prayer for 30 days unless somebody's praying to you? And he said, well, that's a great idea. We conquered some of these nations. They pray to their gods. We'll get them focused on the kingdom that I'm over in. So he writes the edict. No prayer. Could you imagine having a leader of a country that bans prayer? And that's what he did. And in Daniel chapter six, verse 10, it says this. Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he knew what happened. He knew what that edict was. It says, he went home, went to his upper room with his windows open towards Jerusalem. He knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom Since early days, since his youth, he had been doing this. And beloved, if we ever had some dictator take over this country and they ban prayer, I pray that God would give us a holy courage to say, you know what? I'm thanking my God. Thanking my God every chance I get. We're not going to listen to that edict. And that's what Daniel did. And God rescued him. You know that story. I was reading a really good article out of this month's Table Talk magazine, which is Ligonier's devotional publication that I get. And there was an article in there entitled, Praying When I Don't Feel Like It. And I thought, oh, I got to read this. It's a great subject because there's a lot of days I don't feel like coming to church. There's a lot of days I don't feel like praying either. I thought, you know, I need to hear this. So just a little excerpt from that, but I thought this was good. In that article, Jeffrey Thomas writes, There is no greater peril in the Christian life than to make our emotions the touchstone of our duties. In other words, to wait for the moment of inspiration before we obey our Lord, who has told us always to pray and not to grow faint. We are to stare at some sentiments that are saying to us, you wouldn't be expected to pray when you're feeling like this. We must stand as servants of the Lord, not on our feelings, and insist that although we're lying virtually on the emotional floor of despondency, we must pick ourselves up and attend to what God requires from us. I think when we don't feel like praying, it's probably the most important time for us to be praying. I shared with you, I read an article that inspired me that said, anytime you even have the thought to pray, you need to pray immediately. Immediately. And I used to sometimes think, well, you know, when I get back to my house, I'm going to have a prayer time, because I just feel like I need to be praying about this or about that or this person, whatever it might be. And I've taken that advice. A lot of times it happens to me when I'm going for a walk. I'm going up a big hill, and I'm out of breath, and it hits me. Like, I need to be praying for this. And I just immediately, spontaneously begin my prayer. And I do that when I'm driving my car, wherever it might be. And I recommend that to you. If God, I think, inspires us with whispers of the Spirit, you need to be praying about this. Sometimes I don't even know why God has me praying for somebody. I'm like, Lord, I just feel like they need you right now. I don't know what they're going through. I don't know why they're on my mind. But I'm lifting them to the throne of grace, because I think they need you right now. It's an important thing to do. William Kalper probably wrote quite a few of the hymns on our hymnal. He's a prolific hymn writer. He suffered incredibly from depression. And he actually tried to commit suicide at one time. And his pastor advised him, like, you really need to pour yourself into writing hymnody and get out of yourself and go with me to do house visits. And that's what Kalper did. But one of his hymns that I'm not as familiar with, I got this out of the Hymns to the Living God hymnal. It says, what various hindrances we meet in coming to the mercy seat. Yet who that knows the worth of prayer but wishes to be often there? Prayer makes the darkened clouds withdraw. Prayer climbs the ladder that Jacob saw. Gives exercise to faith and love, brings every blessing from above. Restraining prayer, we cease to fight. Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright. And Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. Have you no words? Ah, think again. Words flow apace when you complain, and fill a fellow's creature's ear with the sad tale of all your care. Were half the breath thus vainly spent to heaven in supplication sent, our cheerful song would oftener be, Hear what the Lord, hear what the Lord has done for me. I thought, what a great helm. We need to work that into our enmity in the church here. I just think it's a great helm. How we can go on and on when we're complaining about our day if we would just silence ourselves from that and just direct our words to God and talk to God and praise God. So we're to pray also vigilantly, in my translation, a vigilant prayer. Here I go with my Greek again. Gregorio. It's pretty close. Gregorio. What is that word? Well, sermonindex.net has this as a definition. It's a little lengthy. But it says, this word was used to call for one to be on the alert, in a constant state of readiness, vigilant, alert, watchful, especially to avoid danger. This word suggesting intense, unremitting, weary watchfulness, keenly alert to the heedfulness and being heedful of trouble and danger. As others are sleeping and others are unconspicuous, we are to be watchful and ready to respond to external influences, focused, alert for the winds of temptation, the overt attacks of evil. We are to remain alert, lest we be deceived by the devil and the deceiver, or we would sin. And sin is very deceptive. We're to be alert. We're to be alert as we go out and head off for our day and be prayed up. You know, that we be alert and looking for problems, looking for the attack of the evil one. There's this great example in the very book we're studying in verse 12, which God willing we'll get to. in chapter four of Epaphras. Epaphras, we think, was the gentleman that probably heard Paul in Ephesus and probably carried the gospel to Colossae and started that church. And in verse 12, it says, Epaphras, who is one of you, he's from Colossae, a bond servant of Christ greets you, always laboring fervently for you, in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." He's always praying for you, church. Always. That's a beautiful description of the ministry of Epaphras. The word of watch and pray. 1 Peter 4.7 says, But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. Douglas Moo on that says, believers need constantly to be awake to the nature of the times that they live in, the last days, and orient their lives accordingly. The verb here could well connote this idea. The devotion to prayer that Paul calls for should be characterized by a strong sense of expectation about Christ's near return that governs and motivates prayer. Right? There's a little bit of that being taught in the parable about the ten virgins. And the bridegroom's delayed. Remember, and what do the ten ladies do? They all fall asleep. They all fall asleep, the wise and the foolish. And part of the teaching of that parable is, Christian, awaken yourself. Don't nod off while the bridegroom delays. We're to be vigilant in prayer. And you see that over and over again. The third thing that Paul says, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Douglas Moon, his commentary pointed out, that's really the under theme of the entire book we're studying. In Colossians 1.12, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 2.7, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 315, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. 317, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. The word here in the Greek is Eucharistia. And you know that word. You've heard the word Eucharist. Why do groups of Christians call the Lord's Supper the Eucharist? Because when Jesus took the bread and broke it, he gave thanks. It's the word thanks. It's where we get that word from. You get a picture of the exact opposite of how we should respond to God because of His grace and love, because of what He's done for us in Jesus Christ, given us life and breath and provision and salvation. And the exact opposite of that is the unregenerate man, the one who's not born again, the one who's at enmity with God. And that's in Romans. I go to this text all the time, but this is Romans 1.20. For since the creation of the world, His, meaning God's, invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. In other words, you can look at creation and know there's a powerful God and His God, that He's sovereign over it. He's in charge. He's the boss. He's God. So they know that because it's seen in the creation. And then He says, so they're without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful. Nor were thankful, and became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Beloved, we should be a people that are known for thankfulness. For thankfulness. We should be thanking the Lord at every turn. And even when things look down and despondency kind of sets in, we can look to heaven and say, you know, Lord, I don't understand what this is all about, but I know you're a good God and I am absolutely convinced that you're in control. So I submit to your perfect will. And thank Him. Lord, I thank You that I'm not wrestling through that with just some lifeless force behind it. But I have the sovereign God of the universe sovereignly carrying out His will. And Romans tells me that you're working all things together for the good to those who love you, to the elect, to the called. And be confident in that. The regenerate person, you see in Ephesians 5.20, says that we're to be giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For all things? Yes, for all things. Now, you don't have to thank him that you stubbed your toe, but you can thank God that you have a toe, and you can thank God that he's sovereign even over things like stubbed toes. He's a God who's in control of all things, and he's a good God. He only does what's good, right, and holy. That's our God. And the fourth thing, we're to pray evangelistically. And Paul says this in verses three and four. He says, meanwhile, while I'm on the subject of praying, he says, 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. We could pray for open doors, right? I like the old King James, it puts that, that God would open unto us a door of utterance. That's a cool prayer, right? Pray for that now. That sounds kind of cool, too. Lord, give me a door of utterance, that when I see that door open, I can step through and have a conversation with somebody today, and you'll be glorified, and I could share Christ with my neighbor, or I could share Christ with the guy on the subway, or wherever I'm at. Lord, open that door, and then let me have the courage to step through that door and to share the mystery of Jesus Christ. I read a story that I'll convey to you in Scott Pace's commentary. And it was a true story that happened in New York, where 37 witnesses opened windows and opened doors and were looking out at night to a situation and a scene where a woman was being accosted. And nobody did anything. And as a matter of fact, the person who was doing this, when he saw the doors and windows opening, kind of began to walk away and then realized nobody was coming. And went back and finished what he was doing. And it's interesting because this prompted a study by psychologists Darley and Latane. So they discovered in this study that the more people that are involved as witnesses, the less likely anyone was to intervene in the situation. They named the phenomenon the bystander effect. The idea being, there's so many people, everybody's saying, well, surely somebody else would take care of this. Certainly the guy that's a little bit closer. I mean, somebody's going to step out there and do something. And because you see so many people, and I think the church falls into that same phenomenon. Somebody else will do it. My neighbor needs to hear the gospel, somebody else will carry it to him. Oh, the guy on the train looks like he's down and out and maybe doesn't know Christ. Somebody else will hand him a gospel track. And I think we fall into that as Christians. Somebody else says, I'm not called to be an evangelist, I'm a pastor. You might say, well, I'm not a pastor or an evangelist, I'm a tech guy, or whatever it might be. Beloved, we're all called to share the gospel. We who have been so richly given the Word of God to understand the Word of God and not share it with anybody? That's a travesty. It's a travesty. We are to pray that the gospel would go forth. And this is what Jesus said. He says, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. And how many times have I prayed that? And then the Lord says that, okay, that's you. You go. You go get on the plane, you go, you go to the guy's house, you go talk to the guy. And I think a lot of times that's the result of that prayer, but other times you've got to raise somebody else up. But we're to be praying that the gospel will be heralded, that it will go forth in power. We should pray for us, as Paul prayed, that we would speak as we ought. How many times do you get home and you think, man, I had an opportunity there and I didn't say a word. I really should have stepped in and there was a great opportunity for me to share some truth, and I just kept my mouth shut. Lord, help me with that. I'm sure you've done that, because I've done that, where I thought I should have spoke, and I didn't. We should pray for those that are doing the work of evangelism. Adopt missionaries prayerfully. If you can support them financially, fantastic. If you can go and help them, then go and help them. But we shouldn't be just on the sidelines. Not everybody's called to be a pastor. Not everybody's called to be an evangelist in that sense. But nobody's called to sit in their armchair. There's no Christian that was called to that. And even if we get to the point where we can't get out and do anything for physical reasons, we can always pray. You can always encourage somebody. Say, you know what? I pray for you every day, every day, that God would just be kicking in the doors and marching forth with the gospel, that you would evangelize that entire neighborhood, that entire country. So secondly, that's how we should pray. Secondly, how should we speak? It says in verse 5 and 6, walk in wisdom towards those who are outside. What does that mean? I read a sermon yesterday by Alexander McLaren, and I thought it was so good. I'm not going to preach it to you, but he only dealt with that verse, that part of the verse. And he was telling his church, who's outside? Outside of what? Outside of the building of the church? They don't attend a church? There's people that are Christians that for sinful reasons don't go to a church. They should. The Bible says not to forsake the assembling of ourselves. But outside of what? Outside of our little Baptist circles? Outside of the Southern Baptists? You know I come from a Reformed theology standpoint? Outside of the Reformed theology standpoint? No, and his conclusion that he gave to his congregation was outside of Christ. Those that are outside of Christ. And then he told his congregation, are you outside of Christ? It doesn't matter if you come to church all your life, are you in Christ or outside of Christ? Do you love Jesus Christ? Is that your only hope? Is that you're clinging to Christ, found in his righteousness, covered by his merit, and washed in his blood? So, and I told you I wasn't going to preach a sermon, but that was a sermon. So Hendrickson says, it is as if the Apostle were saying, behave wisely toward outsiders, always bearing in mind that though few men read sacred scrolls, All men read you. Few men and women read their Bibles, if they even have a Bible, but they read you. They read you. We have to be wise in our conversations, especially with the lost. Especially with the lost. He says we're to be redeeming the time. Time's fleeting. The Bible says that over and over again. We don't like talking about that. We don't like talking about death and dying and the brevity of life. The Bible has no problem talking about it over and over again. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, it flourishes. For the wind passes over and it is gone. And his place remembers it no more. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It's even a vapor. It appears for a little time. And then it vanishes away. Redeeming the time. And you think, well, I might have a lot of time. Well, maybe your neighbor doesn't. Maybe your neighbor doesn't. I probably told you this before. I remember I was attending a funeral. And the widow was at the casket and went up to pay my condolences like you do. And she said, he was a Christian. And she said, he was always going to do something great for God. And I thought, that's almost a tragedy that you just said that to me. And by the way, we don't do great things for God. We serve a great God. But we don't want to sit on our armchair and let the rest of the church do the work of evangelism and the work of the kingdom. But he was always going to do something great for God. And what she was saying, but I guess not, because now he's dead. redeem the time. We're to live our lives purposefully for Christ. We have a short span that's called life on planet earth and we want to lean into that life and live purposely for our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says Ephesians 2.10, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. There's some volitional act of the will there, that we're going to get up out of our chair and walk in the works that God has set before us to do, right? So this encompasses really all of life. It's not just the work of a ministry and evangelism. It's your day jobs. I have a day job. That I would live purposefully in that day job, knowing that God planted me in that work. I was really grumpy. I don't care. Oh, and I'd have my prayer time. And I was complaining to God. I was getting frustrated with work and what was going on at work. And the Lord reminded me. He didn't talk to me, but he did remind me of, Larry, I put you in that place. I have you in that place for my purposes. I provide for your family through that work. I've taken good care of you through that work, that vocation that I placed you in, and you're there for a reason. And I had to repent. Here I am on my walk. You know, my neighbors, I pray out loud when I'm walking, so they all think I'm nuts anyway. But I'm talking to God. I'm like, Lord, I'm so sorry. You're right. You're right. What a sinful, wicked thing for me to begin to think. You're right. I got to change my thinking and understand there's purpose in this, your purpose, in places like insurance industries. Yeah, no matter what God called you to this purpose. I always liked the line in Chariots of Fire. And I don't know if Eric Little ever really said this, but it's in the movie. And if you don't know who Eric Little is, he was a missionary to China. His parents were missionaries. And he was also an Olympic runner. That was another thing that God enabled him and called him to do. In that movie, he says, I believe God made me for a purpose. But he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure. In other words, what he was saying was, when I run, I am fulfilling what God created me to do. He made me fast. And when I run, I can sense God smiling on that. Beloved, what did God create you to do? What's your gift? I hope you're exercising it, and prayed up, and you thank God for calling you to that. It's all kinds of various things, right? We have various vocations and callings. So Paul says, how do we speak to people? He says we're to speak to people graciously. He says, let your speech always be with grace. Always. Whether we're sharing the gospel, whether we're talking to a co-worker, whatever we do, our speech is to be gracious. Our speech should be patterned after Jesus Christ. Right? And let me read you some verses with that in mind. Ephesians 4.15 tells us, but speaking the truth in love, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, even Christ. And I've heard people say, brother, I've got to tell you something in love, and then they beat you over the head with a verbal baseball bat. We've got to be careful with that one. We really have to have love as our motive when we speak. As a matter of fact, I love this, and you probably have picked up on this when you studied your Bible, but when Jesus is having that interaction with the rich young ruler, and basically, Jesus calls him out right away, and says, hey, why are you calling me good? The only one that is good is God. There is no good to human beings other than the Lord Jesus Christ, right? But he says, why are you calling me good? And he says, well, what would I need to do to have eternal life? And he sends him to the law. And what does the guy say? I've kept the law perfectly since I was a kid. You know, just like Jesus is doing the excedrin headache, like, are you kidding me? But before he tells him what he's going to tell him, it says this in Mark 10.21, it says, Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him. Did you ever pick up on that in your Bible? Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, well, just one thing you lack. Go your way, so whatever you have, give it to the poor, and then you'll have treasure in heaven. And then come, take up the cross, and follow me." And he went away sad. Jesus didn't say that in some angry, vindictive way. He said it out of love. He said it out of love. That invitation was an invitation of love. So we're to speak graciously, and then we're to speak to people tastefully. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt." Douglas Moo on that says, we take it then that Paul is calling on Christians to speak with their unbelieving neighbors and friends with gracious, warm, winsome words, all with the purpose of being able to answer unbelievers. It's well put. Jesus had said in Mark 9 50, salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Then he says, have salt in yourselves. Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. We're to be the instrument that God uses in relationships to bring shalom, to bring peace to relationships. And we're to be salt within ourselves. Adam Clarke did a good job with this. He says, a harsh method of proposing or defending the doctrines of Christianity only serves to repel men. from those doctrines and from a way of salvation. Salt, with its use in preserving food from corruption and rendering it both savory and wholesome, has always been made the emblem of wisdom. And think about that language, as you speak to somebody about the Lord, that your conversation, that they would think it was savory and wholesome, right? To be made whole is what he's talking about, wholesome, rather than detracting and corrupting somebody. As a matter of fact, in Ephesians 4.29, it says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. And that word in the Greek, it means corrosive. It's actually the word they use for a rotting fish. You ever talk to somebody like that? You think, I just felt like I just sniffed a rotting fish. Because of the way they're corrosively talking to you. Years ago, I went down just outside of DC in Northern Virginia. My company said, you've got to go down there. This lady is all upset. And I said, well, what am I supposed to do? And they said, well, she didn't like the way that her carpet was installed. And you have to go down there. And she just wants a representative from the company to be there while this is being fixed. I said, OK. Went down there, and she was one of the most godless women I'd ever encountered in my entire life. She snipped at me as soon as I came in. She told me, stand here and don't move. And then as they're doing the work, what she wanted me to be there for, she just berated me the whole time. She said things like this, how can you live with yourself? How can you live with yourself working for a firm like that? How can you stand? How can you not go home and just kill yourself? She was saying things like that to me for an hour. And she was finally dead. The carpet guy kept looking at me like, is this lady a lunatic or what? I didn't know her. I didn't know her at all. She didn't know me. But I thought to myself, you know, lady, if you don't come to Jesus Christ savingly, you're going to watch this movie someday in the presence of God, and you're going to weep tears. And it's going to be too late. Because she was the most corrosive person I had ever experienced in my entire life. I left there feeling corroded. It really shook me. Amazing, you know, here I am as an adult and that would shake me, but it does. We do not want to be that type of an influence in any relationship. There's people, I've been on the streets preaching before, and there's people that should not be out there doing it. They shouldn't do it. They're corrosive in the way they express it. They almost sound mean, hurtful, degrading. And I'm thinking, you have no business out here on your soapbox talking to these people. And I've seen people on the street preaching the gospel with tears streaming down their cheeks, begging people to come to Christ. And I think, now that brother, that brother can preach. Because it's from the heart, it's out of love. Lastly, we need to speak to them wisely. Our gracious, tasteful talk is going to promote questions. That's what we're trying to get to, is that people will ask us good, thought-provoking questions. And you have to know the Word of God so you're not taken aback when they ask you a question. And just give them a biblical answer. If you've ever been out just witnessing, I love doing that. It's amazing. In America, people don't always have time to talk to you. They don't want to talk. I was down at a college campus in Philadelphia, and I was just engaging students that were walking around. I was just asking them, do you know what Christians believe? And the kids were curious. He goes, I was just thinking about that. Actually, I was just up in my room. And I was talking to my roommate. We were just talking. We don't really know what you people believe. I said, you got a minute? And just like that. And I didn't beat him with a Bible. I just told him the truth. And he thanked me when we were done and went his way. I don't know what God did with that. But people will talk, but they're going to have questions. They have questions. I was in Jamaica one time, on a park bench, and I was talking to a gentleman, and he was very anti-Christian, but he didn't understand the faith at all. And he had questions, and I said, well, I'm so against this. And he raised his thing, and I was like, well, wait a minute. I have a Bible. But it says right here, that's actually not true. And we just had this guy. I probably talked to that guy for an hour. I'd like to tell you he got on his knees right there and received the Lord. He didn't. But I don't know what God's going to do with that. The Bible says, I planted and the polis watered, but God gives the growth. That's God's business. We're just to share and be ready to give an answer. As a matter of fact, 1 Peter 3.15 says, but sanctify the Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense. to give a defense to everyone who asks you. They're going to ask you these questions because you've been talking tastefully and graciously to them. And now they feel safe to ask you some questions. He says, be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that's in you with meekness and fear. In other words, don't be all boastful and proud and arrogant. You just meekly give them an answer. Let them think about it for a little bit. So we need to know what to say, how to say it, and we also need to know when to say it. And I'll end with this illustration. I had an experience this week that one of the guys that worked for me had a very difficult customer, a lady. I had talked to her before. She is difficult. And he blew it on a phone call. And he didn't do anything too crazy. But he did call her a liar. He admitted that to me. He did raise his voice because she was talking over him. And he did hang up on her. Now, I always tell my people, I'm like, now when you do that, the next phone call is going to be them to me. So just know that. And of course, she called me, and I talked to her, and she was upset. And I said, well, can we resolve this? And she said, well, why don't we do a three-way call? I'd like to talk to them, but I'd like you to be there as well. And I said, perfect. So I set that up, and the next day we got on a three-way call. And actually, I was surprised at how well the call went. Everything was healed. He apologized. She confessed that she was speaking over him. And she goes, I was getting upset. And it was all resolved. And yesterday, no, the day before yesterday, I was driving home. I had to travel. And he called me. This guy called me. His name is Mike. And so Mike calls. And he goes, you know, I've really been thinking a lot about that phone call that I blew. And you know what I did? In fact, he's called me many times. It really bothered him that he blew it. And he says, you know what, I think I know what I did. He says, I wasn't feeling good. I had a migraine. And I saw her ringing in. I should have let it go to voicemail until I felt a little bit better and called her back. Instead, it was the wrong time for me to take that call. And I thought, you know, Mike, there's biblical wisdom in that. Really is, there's biblical wisdom. We need to know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. Proverbs 25.11 is a beautiful proverb. It says, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Our Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, teach us how to pray. Teach us how to speak, Lord. We all could grow in those departments for sure. So we pray that you do that sanctifying work in us, Lord, as we meditate upon these things this week. And thank you for that, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen.