turn to Colossians chapter 4 Colossians chapter 4 I'd mentioned today in our Sunday school class I was teaching in there are times when we first start deputation or furlough where I'm so used to getting up in front of people, seeing a group of people, and everything within me wants to speak Portuguese. And I've been speaking Portuguese for years now in front of people, and no exception here tonight. I'm struggling a little bit, trying to remember what to say in English, and almost translating it in my head a little bit. But if I have Darcy strategically placed here, if I say a word in Portuguese accidentally, she will correct me. and help me to get through tonight. But it's like that when we first get back. And this is our first meeting in one of our supporting churches, this furlough. So this will pass soon enough. The other day, last week, last Sunday, I was preaching in the church we're staying in in Indiana. It isn't one of our supporting churches yet. And on the way to church, Darcy was singing a hymn in Portuguese. And I said, stop. You can't do that. It isn't a help right now. So, but, oh, praise the Lord. As our children were small, it's kind of neat seeing those prayer cards from the past, from our past terms, it reminded me, Darcy would do something with the kids when I was either, you know, working or traveling, you know, and teaching the kids, she would read missionary biographies to our children And it was just wonderful for them to have that vision. Yes, that's a good word. That'll work. That vision of missions. And something that we have, in Brazil is we have a heritage in Brazil. It's wonderful. Darcy's parents were missionaries in Brazil for 40 years, planted six churches in and around the city of Sao Paulo. And what a blessing it is when we are invited by one of those churches to come and we're able to show our children what their grandparents were used to the Lord to plant and see those churches thrive now. What a blessing that is. even in our seminary, our Bible college, in the city of Curitiba. Curitiba is the capital city of the state right below Sao Paulo, in Paraná, and where Camila is going to seminary right now, to Bible college. And Darcy's dad was instrumental in helping get that started. And the chapel building, the building where they have chapel every day, is named Edificio Jonas. It is the Jones building. And what a blessing is, every time our kids are at the seminary, they see evidence of their grandparents' ministry there. And it has been our prayer that as Darcy's a second-generation missionary, that our children would become third-generation missionaries. But the fact is, we want them to do whatever God has for them in their lives. And praise the Lord, Warren senses God's call to go back. And maybe some of our other children will actually go back to Brazil to serve the Lord there. That's not up to us to call. It's God that calls. But what a blessing it is, as we look in Scripture, we see the Apostle Paul. And we see his great example as one of the first missionaries. And to see how God used him in city after city planting churches. Think in that one generation they reached the known world with the gospel. Every area in the Roman Empire had exposure to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's just amazing that God used those men. Many of those men were uneducated as far as the world looked at their lives. The Apostle Paul had an education that was greatly used by the power of the Spirit of God to accomplish great and mighty things. But here in Colossians 4, the Apostle Paul is giving exhortation to the people in Colossae to pray. And it's wonderful exhortation. Look at verse 2. Continue in prayer and watch in the same in thanksgiving. Continue in prayer the imperative. The command. This is what you need to do. And this is to pray as our lifestyle. You are to have a style of life that emanates prayer. It's an attitude of prayer throughout the day. And it's interesting, why does the Apostle Paul give this? Well, as Christians, we ought to pray. But what is important to realize is God does not want us to be self-reliant. God does not want us to be self-sufficient. The Lord wants us to be God-dependent. And that is what the Apostle Paul was. The Apostle Paul was not someone that was trusting in his own innate ability. He wasn't trusting in the great education that he had. He was God-dependent and he is in his exhortation telling the church in Colossae, commanding them with this imperative, continue in prayer. And we can see that the Apostle Paul practiced what he preached. Let me just read this for you in Romans 1-9, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. Almost the same thing is said here and in 2nd Timothy 1 3. Let me read this for you I thank God whom I serve for my folk forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day I So that was the Apostle Paul's example of prayer. He prayed as a man without ceasing for those that he was burdened to pray for, the churches that he planted and the men that he was working with. That's why in 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 where he says, Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, giving the imperative, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. He could say it as someone who prayed without ceasing. And what an example He was. And then this exhortation that He gives us. I think every missionary gets to the point, I would hope every missionary gets to the point in their lives, where they become more and more God-dependent and not self-sufficient. We are doing something as missionaries that from a human standpoint is impossible. Communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ in a language to a culture that is not our own. And it's one of those things that it's in my own prayer life. My own prayer life has grown every single term we've been in Brazil. And what I've been doing is as God speaks to my heart, my own personal devotions about verses, some have to do with prayer, some have to do with other things, but if I know that that verse or that passage would have some benefit for me in my own prayer life, I write it down on just little index cards. And in my personal devotions, when I start my prayer time, I go through my card, my prayer cards here and I pray these verses and what a blessing it is and I just start out with the Lord's Prayer something that some of us even have memorized I know as a Roman Catholic young man, a Roman Catholic boy I had the Lord's Prayer memorized but using that as a, as bowl soup Darcy, outline use it as an outline in my own prayer life, and as God would bring things to mind, praying for those specific things, in the context of the Lord's Prayer. And then other prayers, and what a blessing it is as I have grown in prayer. And something that I challenge our own people to do in Brazil, think about your prayer life. Has there been growth in your prayer life now from a year ago? Can you look back a year in your life, in your devotional life, and say, I have grown in this aspect of my spiritual growth in prayer? And what a challenge that is. And I hope that we can continue to grow and follow what the Apostle Paul is saying. Continue in prayer. And watch in the same. Watch. And it's interesting, we're watching for the answer here. What could the answer be? It could be yes, the affirmative, no, that's not God's will for your life, or it could be wait. It's interesting as we, you saw, as the Lord provided for us, for our parsonage, for our church auditorium, how many years were we praying for those things? Years and years really as we were involved in their church planning ministry seeing folks saved and then and then getting to the point where we needed to build or we needed a we needed a parsnage for our Brazilian pastor and Oftentimes we would pray and the Lord would say wait And there there are times when we see receive a yes answer what a blessing that is to sense God's working and and he answers. Yes, I but sometimes we get a no answer. And do you think, think of the Apostle Paul, we're looking at his writings here, we're looking at what God did for him in giving him the revelation to write God's word. Did the Apostle Paul ever have a no answer in his prayer? Well, he did. Put your finger here in Colossians And let's go to 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Let's start at verse seven. 2 Corinthians 12, verse seven. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations. Okay, look at this. The Apostle Paul is saying God was working in his life. And God was seeing a need because of the abundance of the revelations that the Apostle Paul had received. Thinking of all that he wrote here in the New Testament. Because of the abundance of those revelations, what happened? There was given unto me a thorn in the flesh. the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. Lest I should have this spiritual pride in my life because God entrusted to me these revelations. And look at here in verse 8. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice. For this thing I pleaded with God three times. That it might depart from me You imagine the Apostle Paul praying three times earnestly Pleading with God and in verse 9 and He said to me God said to me the Lord said to me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness That was the response. It was a no response the Lord deemed it necessary for the Apostle Paul to suffer, to be sure that his spiritual life was where it ought to be. And something I think we have to realize here as we look at the Apostle Paul, what was more important to the Lord was the Apostle Paul's spiritual life than the Apostle Paul's comfort. The Apostle Paul's spiritual life was more important to him than the Apostle Paul's comfort. But look at the spirit, look at the attitude here. Most gladly, therefore, I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of God may rest upon me. That's powerful. That's amazing. You're seeing a man who grappled with a deficiency that some think it was some type of disease of the eyes, some type of deficiency along that line where he had trouble seeing. Could the Apostle Paul having his sight help his ministry advance to a greater extent? From a human standpoint, yes. But from God's standpoint, no. And the response was, no, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. So we look here, let's go back to Colossians chapter 4 and verse 2, continue in prayer, verse 2, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. As we look at the three possible responses to any prayer that we have, We need to be thankful. The yes response. We better be thankful when we receive a yes response. Sometimes people receive a yes response and just go on with their lives as though, yeah, that was going to happen. They don't thank God for it. And that's not right. We ought to be thankful. But what about a no response? A no response, it is important to be thankful for a no response because our God is our creator and he knows better than we do. There is a teaching in Brazil in the wealth and prosperity gospel churches that you demand in prayer what you want and God is somehow required to give that to you. Folks, the last thing we want to do is demand anything of our God. I remember there was a message that was preached at Bob Jones University by the head of the Alumni Association, Bud Bierman. And he was preaching this message. They got what they wanted, but lost what they had. and he went through a series of biblical examples of that then he went through a series of modern-day examples of that and people that he had counseled we do not demand anything of God and I want you to remember one verse here and it's the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane here he is the night before he was crucified for our sins He was praying and as he prayed saying oh my father if it is possible. Let this cup pass from me Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt When we pray instead of demanding from God and maybe getting an answer to that prayer a positive answer that prayer that isn't for the for the our best spiritually We ought to pray Lord. We're praying this but not my will as thou wilt. It's a much safer prayer. It is far better to live your life in the will of God than to demand things of God that might not be His will. The wait response, we have this holy anticipation for a yes response from God. And it's not impatience, it's holy anticipation because God's timing is perfect. and we can trust the Lord in that. Well, as we continue on, look at verse 3. We had Paul's exhortation to us, but now we see something, and you think, does the Apostle Paul need prayer? I mean, he was a great man of God. He was a man who was God-dependent, and look at here, with all also praying for us. And that's vital to understand. As missionaries, we need your prayers. As missionaries, it is vitally important, and the Apostle Paul is saying this as a missionary, with also praying 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. You know, most of the time, as missionaries, we are actually speaking a foreign language in a culture that is not our own. And we need help. We need you to pray that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mysteries of Christ. That we would speak, make it manifest, make it evident, make it clear the Gospel presentation as we ought to speak. Vitally important. I remember when We first got to Brazil we were telling this story to someone recently here in fact When we first got to Brazil Darcy and MK So she had instant ministry. She very soon after we got to Brazil she was teaching ladies and and had all this ministry and I was I learning Portuguese, going to language school every day. And going to language school, and I thought, boy, after a week of language school, I'll have part of this language down. After a week of language school, I could say hello, goodbye, knew a couple other small words, but that was it. And here I was, and I would learn, and after a year, you think, boy, you'd have the language down. And I think, man, I don't. Any message I would have would be completely manuscripted. Every single word was written down. And I would read it. And even reading it, sometimes it wasn't clear for people to make a spiritual decision. Well, praise the Lord, there is so much growth since then. But how humbling that I was a speech minor. I knew how this was supposed to go and it wasn't going that way. Because it's difficult to speak in another language. It's difficult to learn another language and learn another culture. I remember our first furlough, we got back to Florida to visit Darcy's dad and stepmom in Sebring. And I was preaching there at Maranatha Baptist Church in Sebring, Florida. And I got up to preach and Amanda, our oldest, who was probably about 10 then, she started to cry when I was preaching. I think, oh man, my preaching is terrible. No, it wasn't. And Darcy asked her, honey, why are you crying? She goes, mama, daddy's a good preacher. Because all she had recollection of is me preaching in Portuguese. But we have so much liberty to preach in English. Once we get past this Portuguese-English thing, it's just amazing. And as a missionary, you never get to the level that you are at in your own native language. It's just difficult for that to happen. And I remember this was two terms ago. We had the BJU Brazil team down, and they would play soccer with area teams. They were playing indoor soccer. And Americans just don't play indoor soccer like Brazilians play indoor soccer. The team was getting creamed. It was terrible. And I'm thinking, boy, is this a good testimony or not? But it was interesting. The mayor's wife came to that game and she said this is wonderful that we have this this international competition here and you know can we send the radio station the newspaper here to interview you and I said well that'd be fine and I'm thinking well you know I want Pastor Yuri our Brazilian pastor to do this interview because I want I'm promoting him as the as the as the head of the church as this as the leader of the church and and you You know yuri had gone off and was getting some water for the team or something But I thought he would be back right away to do this interview and as time was passing. I was like Where's our pastor? Where do you where do you go? And and the game ended and i'm looking around and still no pastor yuri And i'm thinking good night. I'm gonna have to do this interview and it was going on live radio And and I think okay And just prayed, you know lord. Just just give me the words to say just just help me in this to do this well. And we went to half court and the radio guy started out and he asked me a question and I responded to it. And it was amazing how the response just kind of came out. It was just wonderful. And I ended up finishing up the interview and I said to the church the next day, I was just amazed how well the Portuguese just came out. And then someone in our congregation had heard it, and they said, Pastor, I heard it, and that was the best Portuguese you've ever spoken. Praise the Lord. But God does that. And so you're praying here that God would open a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, that we may make it manifest as we ought to speak. And to think of the great miracle that it is that we are speaking this language that is not our own. and we're able to lead precious souls to Jesus Christ. And they understand. And their lives are transformed. And they become leaders in the church. And you just sit back and say, that's of God. But that's the result of you folks praying here. In Clarkston, Michigan. Praying for a missionary in Osvaldo Cruz, Sao Paulo, Brazil. And it's interesting, Darcy's dad, Darcy's dad, missionary in Brazil 40 years, he did not know where Osvaldo Cruz was. And he pulled out his map of the state of Sao Paulo, it took him three surveys of the map of the state of Sao Paulo to find where Osvaldo Cruz was. And it's just amazing, as you folks pray here, You might not even know where Oswaldo Cruz is. And it's a lot easier in Google Maps now and all this other stuff than it used to be. But as you pray here, God answers your prayer there. And it's amazing. It's amazing what happens. In World War II, they said for every one frontline soldier, there were nine soldiers in logistical support supplying everything that one frontline soldier needed. I hear now it's even much more than that. But folks, we're on the front lines. We see things happen that just don't happen here in the United States. But as you folks pray, God empowers us and encourages us. As missionaries, we can sense when God's people are praying. We sense that you are with us and it encourages our soul. But let me tell you this, we can sense when God's people aren't praying because we get pretty discouraged. And we feel very alone. In the book Mountain Rain by Eileen Frazer-Crossman, she wrote of her father, James Frazer, missionary to China. And there was a time as he was working with the Lisu mountain people in China, that there was a great revival that took place after years of work And this is what she wrote. James had a quickened sense that people were praying for him at home in England. Thousands of miles away, they were directly engaged in the work of God among the Lisu. They were also concerned about keeping James himself filled with the spirit of power. He knew conclusively now the prayers of God's people had brought the harvest. He knew too that his cry to God for deliverance in his own life and for the salvation of the Lisu had been heard. in heaven. Folks, right now we have one of our daughters, Charity. She was in Ghana these last two weeks on the B.J. mission team to Africa and now they're in Tanzania. What a blessing it is as parents that we can pray for her here and God answers in Tanzania, I don't even know on a map exactly where she is. I have at home a list of where she is. She just arrived today to the new location where they're going to be serving for the next couple of weeks. But praise God, we can pray and God answers prayer and God does answer prayer and empowers your missionaries. A verse we use in our prayer card and we had it in our presentation as well at the bottom of our prayer card. Second Corinthians 111, ye also helping together by prayer for us. You folks have an integral part in our ministry that is vitally important for the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For us in Brazil, for your other missionaries wherever they are in this world. As you folks are faithful, Just as it says here, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, wherewithal praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which also I am in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Your prayers do that. And we are so, so grateful. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father,