How To Be An Effective Witness | Colossians 4:2-6 | Pastor John Miller

and I want you to follow with me I begin in verse 2 of Colossians 4 and we're gonna read the entire passage that we're gonna unpack today Paul starts in verse 2 and says continue in prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving he said 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 Paul was writing the book of Colossians from prison he was in Chains that I may make it manifest that is the mystery of Christ I want to make it manifest verse 4 as I ought to speak verse 5 walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt that if you may know how you ought to answer every man years ago I learned a little poem that kind of is fitting with the text that we just read it goes like this you're writing a gospel a chapter each day by the things that you do and the words that you say men read what you write whether they're faithful are true tell me what is the Gospel according to you I love that and that's my question this morning what is the Gospel according to you are you living the gospel in the home chapter 3 verse 18 to 21 or you as a wife submitted to your husband as you as a husband do you love your wife as Christ loved the church and as a child in that home are you obedient to your parents and as a parent are you giving to your children and raising them in the ways of the Lord not provoking them to anger or wrath how about in the workplace we saw that last Sunday chapter 3 verse 22 to chapter 4 verse 1 are you living Christ in the home are you living Christ in the workplace when you go to the job on Monday morning do you let Jesus shine out of your life does Jesus do other people know that you love Jesus and is Jesus shining through your life well today Paul mousse in chapter 4 verse 1 2 6 2 talking about being an effective witness I want you to notice the key is in verse 5 look at verse 5 walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time now those that are described here as them that are without who's that it's talking about the non-christians sign about the unbelieving world those that are outside the church outside the body of Christ so he's talking about how we walk how we live our Christian life in front of a unbelieving watching world so we are writing a gospel a chapter each day by the things we do in the words we say and people are observing they may not read the tract you hand them but they're gonna watch your tracks they may not want to listen to what you say on the job but they're gonna watch the way you work and you're gonna watch your attitude in the words that come out of your mouth so we as Christ followers have a responsibility to be an effective witness to a watching world but here's the question that I want to ask and answer from the text the question is how how can i how can we be an effective witness for Jesus Christ and I want to give you three ways to do that write them down number one if we're going to be an effective witness in front of a watching world we need to pray purposefully we need to be men and women who pray and we need to pray with purpose we need to pray with purpose we can't be effective in our witness if we don't learn to pray someone said before we speak to men for God we must speak to God for men that's so important now let me tell you how you should pray let me break it down from the text first of all we need to pray faithfully know and verse to continue in prayer continue in prayer it's an imperative so it's a command when Paul uses that expression continue in prayer it is a command it's not an option he's not just kind of giving you a suggestion or an idea he's actually telling you to continually ongoingly pray it literally means to devote time and attention and strength to the task let me repeat that time and attention and your strength and energy to the task it carries the idea of being strong this continue means to be strong in your praying God does not want us to give up on prayer and many times when we're praying for the lost and I believe that that would have a perfect application in the context when we're praying for the watching world we give up but they'll never get saved the more I pray for him the more he then they get you know the more worldly they get I'm just going to give up in James 5 verse 16 it says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth what much you know the verse the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person the word man is mankind righteous person of Veils much so we need to be effectual and fervent and praying for the loss faithfully the second characteristic of our praying should be watchful II notice it in verse 2 again he says continue in prayer and watch in the same notice that expression watch in the same it means keep awake don't fall asleep what an amazing thought you know I love to sleep how many of love to sleep okay we're going to start a sleep fellowship here at revival bring your pillows we all show up and take a nap praise God the other day I asked my 9 year old grandson Connor let's taking that know that he's being punished you know no naps are good naps are good come on let's go lay down that whenever i watch the grandkids after about an hour it's like let's play lay on the bed for a while I know now why you have kids when you're young right you don't have the energy to keep up with them it's amazing my wife says I have the gift of sleep and III thank God for that I don't have any trouble sleeping but the bible does say he gives his beloved sleep so the Lord loves me and he gives me sleep but when it comes to prayer God wants us to stay awake you ever noticed that when you pray I've gotten down on my knees by the bed I fold my hands I put my forehead in there and it's just a perfect little cup and you're elevated just enough over the bed you can still breathe and you just Lord I just want to pray for Lord goodnight you wake up you start to pray and then you wake up an hour later with a big red spot on your forehead he's like whoa what's up you know Lord just I'll talk to you tomorrow go to bed remember when Jesus went into God Garden of Gethsemane and he went a little deeper with the three disciples Peter James and John what did he ask them to do pray not only to pray but watch and praise to think that was you wore a watch while you prayed watch and pray but the word watch means stay awake Jesus actually said stay awake and pray what did they do they fell asleep Jesus goes deeper and in the garden he lays on his face in the dirt and he prays in agony the Bible says he was wedding is that were great drops of blood one of the most moving scenes in the life of Christ is when he is in Gethsemane you want to enter into a life and Ministry of Jesus Christ understand guests M&E the word guests M&E by the way means oil press it's where they pressed out the olives and made the olive oil and all the sins were beginning to weigh down on Jesus as he was being pressed and sweat as it were great drops of blood and he agonized before the Father and he said father if it's possible let this cup pass from me but not my will dying be done and then he goes back to his faithful three inner-circle disciples whom he had just said stay awake and pray and what are they doing they're sleeping aren't we like them the Bible says the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak watch and pray that you enter not into temptation so this is what this passage is saying stay awake in 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 8 and Peter learned his lesson there in the Garden of Gethsemane he says be sober be vigilant that's that idea of staying awake be vigilant why because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour there really is a devil he really doesn't like you and he really wants to destroy you and your faith in God so we need to be watchful and vigilant and sober in our prayer and then thirdly we need to pray with Thanksgiving thankfully so number one we need to pray faithfully number two we need to pray watchfully and number three we need to pray thankfully notice and in the text verse two with thanks giving so he says continue in prayer watching the same with thanks giving Moffat renders that maintain your zeal for prayer by Thanksgiving that would indicate something that I think is so cool that when you learn to give thanks for God it keeps the fire burning in prayer if your prayers are cooling out or dying out maybe you need to add a little thankfulness to your prayers I spoke at a conference yesterday up in Fontana marriage conference and on my way up there I opted intentionally not to listen to music which I normally do not to listen to the radio but to turn everything off in the car and just to pray and then the Lord really struck me was why don't you just give thanks why not ask for anything when I stopped it don't ask me just thank me and all the way up there I'm thanking God for all this blessings I begin to just count my blessings and I was just being thankful and what a fire burned in my heart to begin to just think wow how good god has been what a great God we serve amen and you begin to add that element into your prayer and try it sometimes you say you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ask God for anything I've been praying for a job and pray for my marriage I pray for my grandkids or my kids I'm praying for my health I'm praying for my finance I'm just gonna stop and say Lord thank you I begin to thank God for all the things that he has done someone said this I love it the cultivation of a thankful heart will do much to keep the to keep one alert and alive in their prayer life the cultivation of a thankful heart will do much to keep one alert and alive and their prayer life and Paul knew that that's why he said continuing prayer watching the same but don't forget to be thankful and an old Scottish prayer book it says quote we praise thee for the grace by which thou hast enabled us to bear the ills of the present world that our souls are enriched in by a fuller experience of your love we have a more childlike dependence on thy will and a deeper sympathy with the suffering and the sad that's awesome basically in modern English he's saying Lord I want to thank you for the bad things and the hard things and the bitter things and the trials of my life because they've taught me to trust in you they've taught me to depend on you they taught me to rely upon you they taught me to be more sympathetic and compassionate and kind toward others you know God doesn't always take away our burdens and our problems you know when you pray God heal me and God doesn't heal you I believe as God told Paul and second Corinthians 12 when he prayed three times God take away this thorn in my flesh any of you ever prayed that God would heal your body I prayed that many many times take away this pain take away this affliction take away this suffering and three times God said no no no but I'm gonna do something for you Paul that you didn't ask for I'm gonna give you my grace and my grace is going to be sufficient my strength is going to be made perfect in your weakness when Paul heard those words he said Oh most gladly then were like glory in my weaknesses that then the power of God can rest upon me for when I am weak then am I what strong secret of strength is not our strength secret our strength is understanding I'm weak and I need God's strength amen that it drives me to him in dependence upon his strength so we pray thankfully and we can thank God even for the bitter things but then fourthly we pray purposefully purposefully and I want you to see it in verses 3 and 4 let's read them again verse 3 with all praying for us Paul got very specific want you to pray for us that God would open the door of utterance see he's talking about speaking to others about the gospel to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds that I may also make it manifest as I ought to speak you know one of the problems that I think we have in our praying quite often as our prayers are too vague and general you ever been a prayer meeting when someone says god bless the world bless the world now I know God is omniscient and I know he knows everything but with a little sanctified imagination I almost see God scratching his head gone how would you like me to bless the world what would you like me to do to bless the world I've been in prayer meetings where people said lord save the world save everybody and I'm thinking the Bible says the broad is the gate and many there be that go down to destruction doesn't mean we shouldn't be praying for the loss but not everyone's going to be saved you can't pray God save the world because the Bible says the world won't be safe a lot of people are going to reject the gospel so how about getting a little more specific I believe the devil loves general vague prayers just bless the world bless everybody make everybody happy in Jesus name hallelujah and God's kind of like whoa what what specifically would you like me to do you know one of the reasons Satan loves general prayers is because you never know if God answers them if you're praying specifically for a healing or a job or a particular person and you're right down in your prayer journal the day and the time you start praying for them then you're gonna know whether God has answered that prayer Satan doesn't like that because God does answer prayers and they're cool to write down something that you start praying for and then years later you go back and you realize God answered that prayer that God did what I asked him to do what an awesome thing that is so I recommend that we zero in and we get very specific and we ask God some I've also been in prayer meetings where people just tell God God I'm really lonely god I'm really needy god I I just really don't know what to do and God I don't know what's going on lower that's just what's happening well that's nice you just told God everything he already knew isn't the idea of prayer of asking him for something so Paul says this is what I want you to ask God he gave us two specific things I want you to see them number one that God would open the door to speak that God would open the door to speak notice in verse 3 that God would open unto as probably Timothy and he paths first and his other fellow servants with him there in Rome that God would open and as a door of utterance now Paul is in prison he's in Chains he's in bonds and he doesn't say pray for me that I can get out of jail that's what I would have written if this was the First Epistle of John Miller to the believers in Menifee and I were in jail I would say pray that God gets me out of here or I would say bring me a cake with a file in it she loved those little cowboy movies where the dude was in jail and the guy would write up on his horse with his friends and he throw the rope through the bars and he would tie it on he would ride off boom the wall would come flying out he'd jump on his rock right away say what's that got to do the text absolutely nothing I just just loved those old cowboy movies that when you spring your buddy out of jail you know and you pull the whole wall of the jail out and you escape and that's how I would have prayer you know come rescue me break me out of this joint noises pray that the door opens for me to preach he's in Chains and he's asking them to pray that I can keep proclaiming and speak the gospel and they'll notice specifically verse 3 to speak the mystery of Christ for which I'm also in bonds pray that I can preach and guess what got Paul imprisoned preaching he wants them to pray for him that he can do what got him in jail and he's in jail then I can go out and preach the good news of Jesus Christ pray that God would open the door for us to preach I believe that we as Christians should ask God to do the same thing you know I've never seen but what when I get up in the morning if I say God give me an opportunity to talk to someone today about you guess what God answers those prayers if you get up in the morning and say okay God on the job when I'm going about my job and my business or in school or in the neighbor wherever I go Lord opened the door of opportunity for me to talk someone and a real good practical tip is when you meet someone through the day just ask them a question or strike up a conversation I was at the beach one time and just got out of the water from a surf and I was in the shower and a guy pulls up in this really cool car and I just I'm not a car guy but I just said that's a really neat car what yours that car and you know I like the paint job and started talking and the next thing you know he's asking me a question and what do you do I'm a pastor and I preach or what do you preach I prayed about Jesus and let me tell you about him and the next thing you know I'm standing there in a shower in a wetsuit with my surfboard and I'm sharing the gospel with this guy cuz all I said was that's a nice car I could have very easily just set off again I gotta go you know but just taking the time to engage people to start a conversation listen to them and then pray that God will turn the conversation to Jesus Christ so he says pray that God would open that door in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 Paul said I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ why because it's the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek or to the Gentile so we shouldn't be ashamed we should ask God to open a door and we should preach Christ make it clear is the second thing he prayed for he says that verse 4 I want you to notice that I may make it manifest or clear as I ought to speak the NIV translates that verse 4 pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should now I know that many of you pray for me and I appreciate that but you know what I covet your prayers I need your prayers and we should pray for all those that are in a place of spiritual leadership and are preaching the Word of God pray that they preach Christ and pray that they make it clear every minister should be preaching Christ Jesus and the gospel pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should now how to make the gospel clear let me give you some simple tips when you're sharing the gospel when you're telling someone about Jesus you need to do as you best you can at the appropriate time talk about the need for the gospel that man is a sinner and in need of a savior the Bible says all have sinned all have fallen short of the glory of God there's no one righteous no not one for a person to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ they must realize that they are a sinner in need of a savior people can't respond to the gospel if they don't realize they need the gospel so you need to start with the need for the gospel that man is a sinner and that we fall in an atom and then second aspect of sharing the gospel making it clear is that that sin will be judged by God that God is holy and that the wages of sin is death so all of sin every one of us have fallen short of God's standards and the wages of sin is death that it incursian the judgment of God and then the third element is that God and His love provided a savior so you start with the need for the gospel then you start with God will judge sinners there is a penalty for our sin but God has provided for our sin and a Savior Jesus Christ you might use John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not what perish but have everlasting life so you don't have to be punished you don't have to perish you don't have to be separated from God God's provided a savior in the person of His Son Jesus Christ who important element in sharing the gospel making it clear died on the cross always talk about the meaning of the Cross let people know that Jesus died on the cross for your sins he took your place he paid the penalty for your sins and then secondly don't forget the resurrection of Jesus died we got to have him raising from the dead to be a savior a dead man can save no one so he died on the cross he was buried and he rose again did Jesus really died for our sins yes it's a historic truth was Jesus buried yes did Jesus rise from the dead yes proclaim it faithfully don't debate it don't discuss it just proclaim it the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and then here's the last element number four that a person must repent and receive our believe in Jesus to be saved repentance means you change your mind about your sin in the life that you're living you turn and you trust in Jesus Christ so you preach the gospel Jesus died for your sins Jesus was buried he rose again but if you will turn from your sin and you'll trust Jesus Christ you can be saved by grace through faith salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone make that clear as you share Jesus Christ with a watching world so what do we need to do we need to pray and we need to pray very specifically God open a door god help me to speak God help me to make it clear I listen to sometimes ministers preaching and I literally don't know what they're saying I'm thinking I don't I don't even know what he's saying I don't understand it it's so gobbledygook one of the best compliments I ever get is when somebody says you make it so clear you make it real simple I got a letter from a nine-year-old last week a nine-year-old that watches me via via the Internet Pastor John I watch you every Sunday I follow you in my Bible and I made the comment about children in the children's ministry that they don't punish them by bringing him to listen to me that's why they wrote me this letter he said I understand everything you say and I like it keep preaching from the Bible a nine-year-old I thought wow that is so awesome and you never know but I want to take the cookies from the shelf and get them down where the kids can eat them Charles Spurgeon used to tell ministers when Jesus said feed my sheep that we need to get it down where the sheep are he didn't say feed my drafts some guys come out of cemetery or seminary excuse me they come out there they come out of seminary and they're so high and so lofty and so low theologically deep that people like oh that's awesome I thought it was awesome I don't know what he said but it was awesome it's got to be simple so when we communicate and when I preach I encourage you to ask God to help Pastor John they make it clear but here's the second thing we need to do in verse 5 we need to walk wisely so we need to pray purposefully number one number two we need to walk wisely verse five walking wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time to be an effective witness we must walk wisely people are watching you if you're going to impact them for the sake of Christ you must have a life that is consistent with the gospel now what is the wise walk let me break it down from the text it is a consistent daily walk the word walk in verse 5 is a present active imperative that means that it's a command and it's in the present tense it means continually ongoingly habitually live the Christian life and then second a wise walk is walking in wisdom notice that there in verse to walk in wisdom in the Greek it is in wisdom walk the emphasis is on the wisdom is to live cautiously or tactfully fearing God and obeying his word you know Christians need tack when they witness when they tell people about Jesus not everyone needs to hear the message in the same order or sequence the content needs to be there but be sensitive as to how you share that with others and then thirdly a wise walk is to live before unbeliever be lived before unbelievers to live beautifully before others notice verse 5 them that are without them that are without so we live attractively before the watching world why does it describe non-christians as them with or without because they're without God and they're without hope and they're without salvation they're without eternal life but then notice also is to live with urgency a wise walk is an urgent walk he tells us in verse 5 to be redeeming the time that means buying up every opportunity don't put it off why are you waiting to talk to this neighbor or that person at the gas station or why are you waiting to share with that friend of that family member you never know they might be killed in an automobile accident God may take them home you think I waited and I procrastinated redeem the timings buy up opportunity you don't ever notice that when something's on sale it's only on sale for today only that frustrates me I I thought you're not going to manipulate me you're gonna force me but some people just jump on says day only we gotta go right now or they have all the coupons and they go to the supermarket they they don't need it but they got a coupon so they get it in anyway or you run all the way to San Diego to buy a can of corn because it's half price who sees that opportunity 50 bucks in gas but I saved a 35 cents on the can of corn you're awesome but you're buying up you're seasoning the opportunity and that's what that phrase has the idea redeeming the time redeeming the time so number 1 we pray purposefully number 2 we walk wisely and here's number 3 we speak graciously in verse 6 speak gracious ly notice that verse 6 let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt why that you may know how you ought to answer every man again to be an effective witness we must pray right we must live right we must talk right the unbelieving world is not only watching us they are listening to us our speech should be and I want you to notice this always gracious always gracious let your speech be always with grace what does that mean it means every word that comes out of a Christians mouth should be pleasant attractive charming and winsome in studying this word gracious I came up with those synonyms or those descriptive terms that your word should be pleasant they should be attractive they should be charming they should be wisdom as you look at the word Karos the word grace it actually means that which is beautiful lovely or charming I've always thought by the way that's a great name for a girl if you're a parent wanting to know what to name your daughter Grace Cara's you could call her chaos it's a beautiful name he's what is beautiful and lovely charming our words are to be gracious beautiful words you know you can tell where you're at spiritually by what comes out of your mouth because what comes out of your mouth comes from what your heart if it's in the well comes up in the bucket right that's not a scripture that's just that's just John Miller one one if it's in the well it comes up in the bucket I can always tell that I need prayer I need the Holy Spirit or I need help when things come out of my mouth that shouldn't come out of my mouth and I have to pray God soften my heart changed my heart Lord forgive me Lord cleanse me give me a pure heart so that pure words come out out of one fountain James says can fresh water and bitter come forth no it's easy gonna be bitter or it's gonna be fresh there's no bitter fresh so if bitter words come out of your mouth its bitterness is in your heart if grace comes out of your heart out of your mouth and grace is in your heart when you've experienced God's grace but if you're going to be an effective witness then your speech should always be gracious secondly it should be seasoned with salt I love that verse six someone said this is Paul's recipe for speech that's great Paul's recipe for speech take a little grace and then you sprinkle on a little salt salt is pure salt speaks of wholesomeness our speech should be pure and winsome and wholesome and then thirdly how should we speak with a ready answer ready to answer notice at the end of verse six that you may know how you ought to answer every man so we need to be ready to give an answer to anyone that ask us the reason for the hope that is in this and we need to do it with gentleness and respect now notice in verse six that you may know how you ought to answer every man it's sowing sensitivity and the needs of each individual it's being sensitive to individuals you ever noticed when Jesus talked to people he didn't have one set kind of way of talking to them that he actually cater to each individual need as he shared with them when he met with the woman in John four who was from Samaria which was the despised race as far as the Jews were concerned and he sits down on Jacob's Well and sigh car and he's wearing his tired man's thirsty and sits down and a one woman comes all by herself with her pot they would carry it on their head this woman carrying they would actually they can carry these pots on their heads with no hands who can walking up take off her pot and Jesus said can I have a drink that's all he said could I have a drink and she was blown away how is it you being a Jew what asked me I'm a Samaritan you say well what do you mean Samaritan Samaritans were half-breeds Samaritan was a half Jew half Gentile hey did you talk about race and prejudice Jews hated Samaritans they were mixture of Jew and Gentile they weren't full Jewish she was how houses are you being a Jew asked me a woman of Samaria for a drink for the Jews have no dealings with us Samaritans and Jesus said oh if you only knew who you were talking to and if you only knew who I was you would ask me for a drink and I would give you living water again she doesn't understand what this guy's talking about she goes this is a very deep well and you have no rope you have no bucket where are you gonna get this water she's talking to Jesus and Jesus of the water that I will give you will be in your soul it will spring up as an everlasting life and then he told the woman go call your husband don't you love the way Jesus deal with a good call your husband said well I don't have a husband she's like let's back to the water let's talk about water let's not talk about husbands Jesus said yeah that's true you don't have a husband you've had five and you're living with a guy right now that you're not married to she's thinking oh man actually her response was this sir I perceive you're a prophet she's talking to Jesus Eve you're a prophet what an amazing thought she came to drink of that living water and she ran back into the city and brings the other people there but Jesus started by just asking her a question can I have something to drink ask someone a question John three he starts a dialogue with Nicodemus who came by night a religious Jew a man quite the opposite of the sinful woman at Jacob's Well and what did Jesus say said Nicodemus you have to be born again how can I be born again when I'm old can I enter in my mother's womb and be born a second time and Jesus said no you need to be born of the Spirit now which is flesh is flesh that which is spirit of spirit you must be born again to see the kingdom of God and then in John 8 he's talking to a woman that had been caught in adultery and she was brought to Jesus and the religious leaders of the Jews said she should be stoned she was caught in an adulterous act Jesus stooped down with his finger and wrote in the sand that's a cool tactic for witnessing to somebody sitting on the beach just walk up starting doodling in the sand you know and then they all begin to fall away and Jesus was left alone with the woman Jesus said let him that hath no sin cast the first stone and they all began to slither away in the crowd rabbi Hillel all of a sudden realized that I have an urgent dental appointment I have to get to and he's standing alone with the woman he says where are your accusers as no one condemned you no man Lord she said he said neither do i condemn you go and sin no more you see Jesus had attack and he he knew how to answer every man when he comes to the rich young ruler who said what must I do to inherit eternal life jesus said sell everything that you have come and follow me and you have treasures and now you don't go up to people and do that you see a guy pull up in a nice car sell that car and follow Jesus but Jesus knew what that young man needed so we need to ask the question we need to listen to them take time to listen find out what their needs are answer their questions and share Christ tactfully prayerfully so we're walking and wisdom this is what it says in 1st Peter 3:15 be ready always to give an answer to any man who asked you the reason of the hope that lies in you and you do it with meekness and respect I believe that if every Christian we're praying for the Lost praying purposefully looking for opportunities to witness walking wisely walking and wisdom making sure that your life is consistent with claiming to be a follower of Christ and speaking with seasoned speech that if we would go out into the community here in this Temecula Valley we would go out to the highways and the byways and we would pray and we would walk and we would speech to speak with grace seasoned with salt that we would win more people to Jesus Christ amen let's pray

Channel: Revival Christian Fellowship

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Length: 40min 21sec (2421 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 02 2017