A Prayer for the Saints

Just bless our time as we worship in song and study your word.

Getting us through the weather. Just ask for your continued strength and we give you praise. Yes, Lord. You may be seated. We praise you this morning, Lord. We thank you. Come to this morning to study your word, to worship in song, Lord. May we just be real before you.

I just have those times I get distracted. I can get self-centered. Oh, help me focus on you this morning and look to you, Lord. We thank you.

You step first, you listen in. Give us those willing hearts to love you, to serve you, to walk with you, Lord. To look to you, knowing that we belong to you. We are taking us just as we are. The saints, I sing to you, beautiful Savior. Thank you, Lord. Would you all stand there in the study of your word? How important it is to spend time with you daily, Lord.

That relationship, importance of talking. More important it is even that we have time of just worshiping, praising. Continue to have a heart fellowship with you and one another. Oh, we praise you. We ask for your strength for all that's concerned. It's our service.

We are sinners, Lord. You saved us. Lord, we thank you for that mercy. Not getting what we deserve, Lord. Oh, we give you praise this morning. And so, Lord, as Pastor Ryan comes up to teach your word, we ask that you anoint him by the fire of your Holy Spirit. That you'd give us listening ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to perceive what you have this morning for us.

In Jesus' name, amen. The Lord bless y'all. Excuse me for that. A little sneezy that I couldn't control.

Good morning.

If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements here.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, take a look at the left-hand side and find a spot to get plugged into. In the middle section, just some reminders. First of all, we have those two conferences coming up. The info is right there if you're interested. Also, there's still a couple of days left to get signed up for the Women's Galatians Bible Study.

It will start on May the 30th. That's this coming Thursday. All the sign-up sheets and everything are out there for that. Vacation Bible School is coming up. We had a great work day this last Wednesday. There will be more of those coming up. Looking forward to what God is going to do with that. A couple of things that are not in your bulletin. Just a reminder that if you,

as a, Rick and Joe and Danielle shared last week, if you are interested in either hosting a home fellowship or leading a home fellowship, those sign-up sheets are on that table right as you go out this door. If that's something the Lord is leading you to do, I would ask you to be praying about that and sign up for that. They'll take you through a little training course and get you all ready for that. Also, just a reminder that our Guatemala missions team leaves tomorrow.

They head down there, so please be in prayer for them. If you are interested, there is some prayer guides right by where you picked up your bulletin telling you the different things that they're going to be doing throughout that week that they're down there. I think it's broken down even by the day. So take note of that. You can just grab one of those, take it with you, and be praying for them over this next about 10 days.

So take note of that as well. Okay, and then those are the things that are going on. So if you would make sure that your mobile device, is silenced. And for our responsive reading, we are going to be in Psalm 56. Psalm 56. Looking at the New American Standard for this part, so we sound the same. And if you need a copy, there should be one around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 56, if you are able,

please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 56, for the choir director. According to, I don't know how to say that. A mischief of David when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me. Fighting all day long, he oppresses me. My foes have trampled upon me all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me.

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust. I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do? All day long, they distort my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They attack, they lurk, they watch my steps, as they have waited to take my life. Because of wickedness, cast them forth. In anger, put down the peoples, O God.

You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle, as they are not in your book. Then my enemies will turn back. In the day when I am gone, I will not be afraid. I shall not be afraid. I shall not be afraid. When I call, this I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise. In God, I have put my trust.

I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Your vows are binding upon me, O God. I will render thank offerings to you. And read verse 13 with me. For you have delivered my soul from death, indeed my feet from stumbling, so that I may walk before God in the light. I will not be afraid. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

But one of the things that we pointed out that Paul said that he did for these Colossian people is that he never ceased to pray for them and to give thanks for them. And so, as he has done in other books, Paul has written down what his prayer for the Colossian people is. And so it's given to us in verses 9 through 14 of chapter 1. So starting in verse 9, it says this.

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for them. We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all things. Now, Paul's steadfastness and patience joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Now, Paul starts off by talking about his unceasing prayer. He says, we have not ceased to pray for you. Now, the first thing I want to point out is that prayer is often a difficult thing for us. It's a really unnatural thing to us. As a matter of fact, the disciples who witnessed the prayer life of Jesus

actually found a time where they looked at him and they said, Lord, will you teach us how to pray just like John taught his disciples how to pray? And I always find great encouragement in that story because it reminds me that even the men who hung out specifically with him, specifically with Jesus every day, still found themselves going, I just don't fully grasp what a prayer life looks like and I need you to teach me how to pray. And so it's okay that prayer is sometimes a little bit unnatural for us, but I also want to remind us that it's not as complicated as we make it. We tend to think that prayer should be this highly educated, make sure you use all of the right words sort of thing.

And prayer is really much more about telling God, God, what's on my heart and seeking what he has for me than it is about using all of the right words. As a matter of fact, God's word tells us in the book of Romans that even when you don't know how to pray, his spirit intercedes for you with groanings that can't be uttered. In other words, even when you use the wrong words, God knows exactly what you meant. And the Holy Spirit says, this is what he really meant here.

And so we make it much more difficult than it needs to be. But I have found, that one of the things that helps me the most in my prayer life is if I borrow the words of the Bible to pray for myself. When I use the prayers of scripture, I can know a couple of things. Number one, I can know that I'm using the right words because these are the words that God saw fit to immortalize in scriptures to be around for us forever.

The second thing I know is I know that I'm praying according to God's will because I'm always praying according to his word. And so, if I need those words to say, I oftentimes locate one of these prayers. And this prayer in particular, I think is a beautiful one to pray for yourself, to pray for your kids, to pray for the missions team that's about to go out, to pray for our church and all of your loved ones. Because after all, Paul, when he thought of the Colossians, this is what he prayed for.

But that's the difficulty of prayer. Now let's get back to the main point. Paul said, I never cease, Paul said, I never cease, I never cease, I never cease to pray for you. Now, a lot of times when we think about unceasing prayer, we think about somebody who's just walking around with their head bowed all the time, right? Can you imagine what would happen if you walked around all the time

with your head bowed and your eyes closed? I can imagine what would happen. And quite frankly, fail videos are made of it, right? Like that's exactly what we like to watch on YouTube is people that do things like that because they usually run into stuff or fall off of things and we think it's hilarious. So that's not the idea of what it means when he says, I never cease to pray,

I never cease to pray for you. Because at some point in time, you couldn't be involved in the lives of other people if all you were doing was walking around constantly talking to Jesus. So if that's not what he means, then what does he mean when he says, I never cease to pray for you? Well, the idea is a constant and consistent prayer life, a constant and consistent prayer life.

I would actually tell you that you really can be in prayer all day. We've talked about this before without actually having to have your head bowed, your eyes closed and a prayer list in front of you. As you go throughout your day, you can constantly be offering up the things that are in front of you to the Lord, offering up the next thing that's coming to the Lord. You're driving down the street and you think of something that's going on in the life of a loved one and you can just immediately start to pray for that situation.

You come across an ambulance that's driving by and you can start praying for the ambulance workers as they go by. You face something difficult in your job. Perhaps you are given a task that's a little bit more than you can handle or that maybe stresses you out and you can just shoot up what I call arrow prayers and you can say, Lord, help. And that is the idea of unceasing prayer, constant prayer for others and constant, consistent prayer life.

And so Paul says, I never cease to pray for you. And now we get into the heart of what he prays for them. There are six things, five things in a thanksgiving that he gives for the people. And so I would like to go through these six requests that Paul made. For the Colossian people. Number one, Paul prays that they will be filled with the knowledge of his will.

Notice what it says, verse nine. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Everybody wants to know the same thing always. And we talk about this a lot and it's because I get confronted with this question a lot.

What is God's will for me? What's God's will in this situation? What's God's will for my life? What's God's will for my future? What does God want me to do? Well, if you don't know what God wants you to do, the best thing that you should do is to start to ask God what he wants you to do. And so when Paul says that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will,

this is what he means. The word knowledge means a personal and experiential knowledge. In other words, a knowledge that is for me, but something that I have gained through experience. That's the type of knowledge that he's talking about here. And when he says the knowledge of his will, the Kenneth Weiss translation puts it like this, his will for the conduct of our lives.

In other words, the knowledge of how God wants us to live. Father, how do you want me to live my life? How do you want me to live my life in every situation? And so he prays that they would be overflowed with the personal and experiential knowledge of his will and their conduct for their lives. But as they have the knowledge of this will, he prays for two caveats about this will,

that as they know this, that it will be in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The idea of spiritual wisdom, and understanding is spiritual insight into his purposes and into spiritual things. Insight into his purposes and into spiritual things. Why is that important? Well, because you and I usually see things on a surface level. We see things on a here and now level.

How is this going to affect my life in the next 15 minutes? That's usually how we view most of things in life because we are in a spiritual world. We are a temporary people with a very temporary outlook because we're human beings. And we don't always see the big picture. We don't get to see the big picture of how things are going to work out. And we don't always get the spiritual perspective of things.

And so as we pray for God's, for the knowledge of God's will in our life, it needs to be with the understanding of his spiritual purposes in what's taking place. Let me explain. Let me explain to you what I mean. Sometimes as things are working out in our lives, we say, Lord, why are you guiding me here? I think this is a much better idea. I think this seems like a much better idea.

And he says, while I understand why you can see that, you can't see what I'm doing over here. And I just want you to do this. And it doesn't make sense right now, but it's going to because I'm going to open up your eyes to see myself. Let me give you an example from my own life. Long time ago, and I've told this story before. Long time ago, living in Kansas City,

just wanted to get out of the job that I was in, mainly wanted to get into ministry because that's what I went to school for. I wanted to be able to do it full time. And so in the summer of 2008, almost exactly 16 years ago, almost exactly 16 years ago, it was June of 2008, some friends of ours from Nashville came and visited us. It's actually my wife's cousin and his wife, but we were all friends before any of us ever got married.

And so they came and visited us back in Kansas City. And we all went to the lake together and went riding out on a boat. And he was saying, we just started attending a Calvary Chapel in Nashville and they need a youth pastor. It would be awesome if you would come and be the youth pastor there. And I was like, this is perfect. So we planned a trip. We planned a trip to go to Nashville,

visit our friends because that was going to be fun. But then for me to interview to be a youth pastor in Nashville. And so we go there and we interview and I'm like, Lord, this is perfect. This is exactly what I've been praying for. This is exactly what I've been praying about. I'm pretty sure that this is your will. But in the meantime, I was praying, but Lord, let your will be done.

And so we go there. We have a great time. We have a great time with our friends. We have some really funny stories that came out of that whole thing and interviewed and it just, it wasn't right. We knew it wasn't right. I still wanted to try to fit the square peg in the round hole, but we knew it wasn't right. And so we came back and when we came back, not only did we not feel like it was right,

the pastor there didn't feel like it was right. And I'll never forget the phone call I got from him when he said, I don't know what God has for you in Kansas, but God has something for you. And I'm looking forward to seeing what that is. And so I went back to work. And as I went back to work, the Lord gave me the vision that I needed to stay where I was until I wasn't there any longer.

And about a year and a half later, year and a half, about a year and a half later, I get laid off in construction. And I was coming down here to fill in some for Pastor Mark at that point in time. And it was in October of 2009. That the guys down here said, Ryan, I think it's time for us to bring you on staff. And now here I am. You see, I didn't see everything that God had planned

back in 2008 when I was looking for this job. I didn't have that insight. I didn't have that spiritual insight into his purposes, but I prayed that God's will would be done. And slowly but surely, I started seeing that spiritual insight into God's purposes. And now here I am because that pastor was right. God had something for me to do here in Kansas. I didn't know what it was yet,

but now here it is being fulfilled. And so he starts off by praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. The second thing that he prays for them is that they would walk worthy, that they would walk worthy. Notice what it says. So that you would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects.

Of course, the word walk means the way that you order your life or the way that your life is lived in every aspect of it. It's the word worthy that I want to pay attention to because the word worthy means to have the same weight as. It's a measurement sort of a term. Something needed. Something needed to equal in weight on the scale, the thing that it was being weighed against.

And Paul says, my prayer for you Colossian people is that you would walk, that you would order your lives in a manner that is equal in weight to the Lord that you follow. Worthy of the Lord. What does that mean for me? What does that mean in my life? Well, in the Amplified Bible, it puts it like this, that you would have admirable, that you would have moral character,

that you would have moral courage, and that you would have personal integrity. You see, the day that we came to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were placed into the category of being born again. We were placed into the category of having his righteousness placed upon us and we were set apart unto God. But now what needs to take place is the manner that we live our life, the way that we order our life, should measure up to the position that God has put us into as being born again believers.

That means I need to start asking myself the questions about every aspect of my life. Is this worthy of being compared to the Lord? Is the way that I'm living measuring up to who God says that I am? You hear about it all the time in news tabloids, right? There's an entire, well, I won't get into that. You hear about it all the time. Children of famous people,

children of leadership, children of kings or presidents or you name it, who have a name that they need to, we all know the phrase, live up to, right? We've heard that phrase before. And what oftentimes happens with the kids of these famous people, their lives don't measure up to the name that they've been called by. They are not living a life that is worthy.

And we always kind of laugh about it, right? Oh, those are the so-and-sos and they're never gonna live up to their name. And it's one thing when it's a scandal on earth, it's a whole other thing when it's a scandal in heaven. Because too many believers in Jesus Christ act just like the headlines of the tabloids. And all of heaven goes, they're just not living up to the name.

And listen, it's not the work that we do. That's why Paul is praying for this, for these people, that they would walk worthy, that they would have everything that they need in order to walk in a manner that measures up to who they are in Christ. As a matter of fact, he takes it to another extent where he says that you would be pleasing to him in all respects. And if you want a beautiful image of this, if you want a beautiful picture of this, a beautiful example to follow, I wanna remind you of what Jesus, said, I do always those things that please the Father.

I do always those things that please the Father. And so if you wanna look for a beautiful example to follow, follow the example of Jesus. Because he lived a life of admirable character, of moral courage, and of personal integrity. He lived a life that was worthy. And that's what you and I are called to do. And so that's why Paul prays, for these Colossian people,

that they would be able to walk worthy. But you know, there's an interesting point that's to be made here. The first thing he prayed for them is that they would have the knowledge of God's will, God's will of the conduct for their lives. And the second thing he prays is that they would order their lives in a way that measures up to who they are in Christ. And it brings us to a great reminder.

Right thinking leads to right living. Right thinking leads to right living. Which is why it always has to start off with what you're putting in here, and it will flow into what you're doing out here. Because you are a product of the way that you think. You're a product of what you put in. And so Paul prays second, that they would walk worthy. The third thing that he prays for them

is that they would bear fruit. That they would bear fruit. Notice what it says. It says, bearing fruit in everything, every good work. Now, I always like to point something out about this phrase. I want to point out, first of all, what it does not say. What it does not say is that they would produce fruit. Have you noticed that? We've talked about this before.

Matter of fact, somebody tagged me in something about this, about the peaches thing, not long ago. I thought that was really funny. I don't remember who it was. But too many people think that they are fruit producers. You think you're a factory. And your job is to produce fruit. And so you work really hard. You take that walk worthy thing, and you're like, let's just do this,

and we're gonna bear down, and we're gonna work really hard. And as you work really hard, you are trying to produce fruit. Only you know what you have to do in a factory a lot? You have to maintain all the equipment, and things break, and pretty soon you're not producing any fruit. Well, that's kind of who you are. When you try on your own, your equipment tends to break.

And you can't produce fruit. Right? That's not what it says. Paul doesn't pray that they would produce fruit. No, what does he pray instead? He prays that they would bear fruit. These are my limbs. These are my branches, right? That they would bear fruit. There's a difference. You see, I don't know anything about vineyards. We'll talk about vines in just a moment.

But I do know a little bit about trees. And trees bear fruit. When I was growing up, just on the south end of town here, just across the bridge where that river's at, where the Seagull restaurant is now, there used to be an orchard there. My family owned that orchard. And so I would go there with my grandfather, and we would pick fruit sometimes. I usually picked up the apples off the ground

with the basket, the ones that had fallen, or the ones that he dropped. And he'd go up there with this great big bag that he wore on his body, and he would just fill that thing up with apples. And I'd go work there on a Saturday morning with him, or we'd pick cantaloupe or something like that. But it was always fascinating to see what those trees would do, because those branches would just have to grow.

Those branches would just hang out there, and they would bear fruit. All the branches had to do was just hang there. You know what actually bore the fruit? The fruit was actually borne through all of the nutrients that came up through the trunk of the tree. The only thing that those branches had to do was hang on to the tree. As long as they stayed connected to the tree,

they would bear fruit. The only time a tree looks stressed out is if it wasn't getting enough water. That's the only time a tree looks stressed out. Other than that, trees just kind of hang out, right? They just hang out there, and those branches sit out there and bear fruit. That's what you and I are called to do. We are called to bear fruit. Not to produce it, not to work hard to produce it,

but to bear it. Well, how do you and I bear fruit? Well, we are told in the book of John, chapter 15, exactly what we're supposed to do. We are to abide in the vine. He is the vine, the trunk, if you will, and we are the branches. And every branch that abides in the vine will bear fruit. Bear fruit, it's a promise. Because if you're connected to the vine, then you will bear fruit.

And so, if we want to bear fruit in every good work, we have to stay connected to the vine. It's a result of abiding in the vine. And so, what does he pray that they would do? He prays that their lives would bear fruit. That the fruit of them staying connected to Jesus would bear fruit in their life. And so, he prays for them that they would bear fruit in every good work.

Now, I want you to notice the flow of things. It starts off with the knowledge of God, or the knowledge of God's will. He prays that they would know what God wants them to do in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And then as they know what to do, that they would be able to walk worthy of the Lord in every aspect of their life. And as they know what God calls them to do

and live out what God calls them to do, he simply prays that they would bear fruit. Do you know what that means? As you know what God calls you to do, as you live out what God calls you to do, you will bear fruit in every good work, because you are staying attached to the vine. And so, he prays that they'd be filled with the knowledge of his will, that they would walk worthy, that number three, they would bear fruit, and that number four, they would increase in the knowledge of God.

That they would increase. In the knowledge of God. And that's exactly what that phrase says. The word increase is a great word when you look at it in the Amplified Bible. The word increase, as translated by the Amplified Bible, is steadily growing. And I really appreciate that, because it does create the idea in your mind that slow and steady wins the race.

And that's exactly what that phrase says. And I really appreciate that, because it does create the idea in your mind that slow and steady wins the race.

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Any hobby or project that I try to take on, I'm not always patient with myself in that I'm not perfect at it just yet. I'm not a professional at it just yet. And so I tend to give up on things kind of easy if they don't come real easy to me or if I don't automatically end up being good at it. And, you know, too many of us do that kind of with faith, right? Like we start off growing in our knowledge of God, but pretty soon we're not perfect at it yet.

Like I still have things that I need to know, and we kind of give up on it. We gave up on God's Word. Maybe you started into the reading plan this year, and you got about a month or two in, and all of a sudden you were kind of failing at it. You're not real good at it yet. There were some hard things to understand. And so you kind of gave up. You just said, well, I'll try again in 2025, right?

And so you kind of gave up on some things. And that's kind of what we tend to do in life. But we have to remember we are to be steadily. Slowly growing in the Lord. I use this from the perspective of watching kids grow up. So right now as I'm parenting my kids, I see little changes in them, but they're just that. They're little changes, right? Like they're slowly but surely growing.

And until you go back and look at a picture of like my oldest daughter when she's like three compared to a picture of her now, that's when you go, oh, my gosh. I can't believe how much she's changed. I can't believe how different she is right now. And it's because when you're in the midst of it, you don't notice all those subtle changes because you're around them every single day.

And so while you notice some change, they don't look huge. Well, your spiritual life's like that, too. You don't always notice what God is doing in your life as you are steadily growing in him. But other people, especially people that maybe aren't around you all the time, they begin to notice. One of my favorite things is when I end up being around somebody that I haven't worked with for a long time, working with kids a lot.

Kids move off. They do their thing. And then they come back. And the ones that have really grown in the Lord, it's just fascinating because I just go, wow, you have grown so much not only in your knowledge but in your understanding of who God is. And they're like, it's so good to hear because I don't always see it every day in my life. And it's such a beautiful thing because we're just steadily growing.

The important thing is that you're always moving forward. And so Paul prays for them that they would increase in their knowledge of God. So not only should it be a steadily growing thing, but he says, what do they need to be steadily growing in their knowledge of God? Again, I would like to read to you out of the Amplified Bible. What does he mean by knowledge of God?

A deeper faith, a clearer insight, and a fervent love for his precepts. Growing in the knowledge of God means that I will have a deeper faith. A deeper faith in who God is. A deeper faith in what God wants to do in me. A deeper faith. A deeper faith in that when things tend to come up, they don't bother me like they used to. That's part of what growing in my understanding of God actually is.

It's that growing in my depth of faith in who he is. It also means growing in steadily, gospel plays here, a clearer insight. I like to think that I'm at a point in time in my life where I can start to see a little bit more of the spiritual insight. Where I can start to see a little bit more of the spiritual insight. Where I can start to go, Lord, I know this is what I want to do.

This is what you're leading me to do. And I don't see it just yet. But I'm going to do what you want me to do over here. Because I know that you have a plan for this. Growing in that clearer insight and a fervent love for his precepts. Can I tell you that part of growing steadily in your knowledge of God is more and more loving everything about what his word has to say.

Matter of fact, I would say that if you aren't loving God's word. You need to ask yourself why. If you're offended constantly by God's word. You need to ask yourself why. Because maybe there is something stunting your growth right now. And you need to ask God to reveal that to you. But we are to steadily grow in our knowledge of God. And the last thing on this that I want to share with you is a quote from Andrew Murray out of his book, The Holiest of All.

His commentary on the book of Hebrews. It says this. Our one need is to know Jesus. And to know Jesus better. He is the one cure for all our feebleness. Isn't that great? Andrew Murray was so fascinatingly good at pointing out the simplicity of the fact that the one thing that we need to know is Jesus. The one thing that will truly change us is a deepening of our knowledge of Jesus.

The one thing that will make us who we need to be is a deepening of our knowledge of Jesus. You say, well, how can I know Jesus more? Well, you better get into what his word has to say. That's one of the best ways to know that. And so, if you have issues in your life, it's time to dig deeper into Jesus. Because he is the one cure that we have for all of our feebleness.

So, number one, that we would be filled with the knowledge of his will. Number two, that we would walk worthy. Number three, that we would bear fruit. Number four, that we would increase in knowledge. Number five, that we would be strengthened with his might. Notice what he says. Verse 11. Strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience joyously.

Strengthened with his might. Both the word strengthened and might find themselves in the same root word, which is dunamis. Both of them come from the idea of power. One is a noun and one is a verb. The noun simply speaks of strength or power or might. Right? That's what we need. But then the verb form, dunamu, is used here where it says strengthened. And the idea of the word is this.

It means to endure with strength or to make strong. The idea is to be infused with the strength of God. That he would empower us with his strength. And I love this because I don't think we pray for this enough. We try to go through too much of our lives in our own strength thinking that we can handle anything. Right? As I pointed out before, do I need God's strength for every life?

Absolutely. I need God's strength to go to the store on a daily basis. Right? Partly because I have to pay to go to the store on a daily basis. And every time you do, you're like, oh, Lord, give me strength because I just paid for the groceries again. Right? And so we need God's strength in every aspect of us. And we don't always ask for that. We put things in the, kind of like in the prayer department, we put things in the, that's really hard.

That's really easy. These are just right. Those are too hard. I know God's never even going to give me the strength for those. Those are too easy. I don't need the strength for those. These are just right. Lord, will you strengthen me to do these things? Meanwhile, we should be asking God to strengthen us to do all of them. The really hard things and the really easy things.

Because actually the really easy things are the ones that trip us up the most. Because have you ever noticed when you can't do the easy thing, you're like, oh, now I really am a failure. I thought that was going to be really easy. For me to do. We didn't ask for God's strength. And God strengthens us to do all of these things. And if you constantly are in that position of prayer, where the next thing that comes up, you pray, Lord, I really need your strength with this.

I really need your help with this. I need you to help me accomplish this thing right now. Then it's kind of fascinating how God does that every single time. Strengthened with the power of his might. Now, again, usually when we think of being strengthened. Strengthened with God's power. We think of it so that we can like run through walls, become the incredible Hulk, tear phone books, things like that.

Only this time when we seek the strength of the Lord, it's a little bit different. The first time that Paul taught us about strength was in Philippians where he said we can do all things through him who strengthens us. And do you remember what the context of that was? It was strength to be content. Right? Power to be content. This time, it's even better. He prays that we would have the strength of God.

So that we could attain all steadfastness and patience. I don't want strength for those things, but you need strength for those things. Those are actually two different words about patience, right? Patience for two different kinds of things. The word steadfastness means patience with circumstances. He prays that we would be strengthened in order to attain patience with circumstances.

Circumstances. Well, I don't know what kind of circumstances you've had go on, but I know what kinds I have go on in my life. And sometimes I need some patience for them, right? I need patience for the fact that nothing ever works. You ever gone to work on something and you get a tool out to work on it, fellas, and then you have to fix the tool first? Like, hey, I'm going to go, you know, power wash something.

Well, I have to first fix the power washer. Well, it needs a new spark plug and I got to change the oil. And you go to change the spark plug. And you break the spark plug off. And after you break the spark plug off, you're kind of like, great. Then you got to figure out how to get the rest of the spark plug out of there because you just broke the spark plug off.

And pretty soon you're going, ah, right? You needed to pray for strength because God can give you the strength for patience with the circumstances. And there's all kinds of circumstances that come up in our lives. There's all kinds of things that take place in our lives that cause us to need God's strength for the circumstances. You know what? One thing I always hear people say when it comes to patience, don't pray for patience, right?

Don't pray for patience because God will give you circumstances that will create patience in your life. Here's the thing. You're going to have circumstances that create a need for patience in your life whether you pray for it or not because that's reality. We live in a world that has fallen and everything breaks and everything goes wrong, right? Have you ever tried to get somewhere?

And all of a sudden when you're trying to get, you got to get somewhere fast. You're like, man, I'm late. I'm really late. And every time you're late for something, you get stuck behind the slowest driver known to man, right? So last Tuesday, we had to get up to my daughter's doctor appointment, a follow-up appointment for her knee. And man, I don't know how it happened, but we cut that thing slim.

You put it in, like it takes an hour and 15 minutes to get there. And you're going to be there like one minute before you have to be. And this is one of those places that if you don't show up on time for your appointment, they will give your appointment away, right? We almost showed up late one time and they were like, let's see if you're still in the system.

And we're like, what? We're like two minutes late. I'll see if they've still got time for you. So we leave and we're on our way. And I get stuck behind this guy on the little cutoff thing that takes you over to the Country Club Road by Winfield. And this guy's going 35 miles an hour. I am not making this up. This is real life, right? He's going 35 miles an hour.

And there's just enough traffic. I'm coming the other way that every time I start to lean out to see if I can pass, it ain't happening, right? So I get there and he turns right finally in Winfield. I'm like, okay, great. And so I turn out and I get stuck behind three cars doing 55. I'm like, you have got to be doggone kidding me, right? And I get some mild road rage.

I'm not bad about it, but I do. I get frustrated, especially in situations like that. And there's just traffic. I can't pass anybody. And I just look at him. My wife, I said, can you believe this? And she goes, every time we have to get somewhere fast, we get stuck behind this. And I'm like, ah, I should have prayed for strength, right? Because I need strength in order to attain perseverance or whatever word it is there.

Steadfastness. Patience with circumstances. But then there's a second word that's used there, and it's the word patience. And it literally means patience with people. Now, I don't know which one that fit into with the slow drivers. I'm not sure if that's patience with circumstances or patience with people. Could have been both. I needed steadfastness and patience right there.

But you know as well as I do, we need patience with people. Because who are we around every day? We're around people. And people are not always fun. I don't know if you've noticed that or not. And we live in a world full of less and less fun people. People. People that are just irritating and frustrating. I love that my oldest daughter works at the donut shop now.

And so she gets to work around the public.

Everyone should have a job at some point in time in their life where they have to serve the public. And she's like, this person got mad at me, and it wasn't even my fault. And I'm like, welcome to real life. Because this is what happens with people. If people get mad at us, then it's not even our fault. At least in our mind, it's not our fault. Maybe it is.

That's neither here nor there. Sometimes we need patience with those people. And I'm here to tell you right now, there is nothing that speaks the love of Jesus to people than when you can be patient with them and all of their stuff. Right? Like one of the places I have learned to be the most patient with people, and this is just, I already shared with you how I'm impatient sometimes.

I'm going to share a win here, okay? One of the places where God has really taught me, to be patient with people, is people that are making my food or drinks or something like that. Especially here lately. Because I know that they are massively understaffed. And I know that they get yelled at on a consistent basis. I worked at College Hill Coffee for a little while,

and I had to run the cash register. And I'm terrible with computers. And you have to hit 5,000 buttons to get somebody's drink in there. And I'm like, what size was that again?

It's like that sloth on the, on the movie with the animals and everything, you know, at the DMV and the sloth tells the sloth a joke, and the sloth goes, ha, ha, ha. That was me with the register, right? And so now anytime I'm in one of those situations, and I see one of these, especially young girls, trying to do this thing, and they're like, I'm just, I'm really, it's like your brain shuts off at that point in time too, when you're trying to find that button. It's like your brain just goes, ha, ha, ha, no.

And you're like, ah. And so I see the little girl behind the counter, and she's just like, I'm really sorry. There's a lot of buttons. I'm like, girl, I'm with you, okay? Take your time. I'm here all day, right? I got nothing else to do right now. And so, so I've learned to be patient in those situations. And I have found that I can more easily share the love of Jesus with somebody

if I give them a little bit of grace, and if I show them a little bit of patience. Because either A, if they lose their business and I'm still patient with them, or B, if they're moving slow and I'm patient with them, the softness of their heart, their heart at that point in time is to a level that's almost unexplainable. Because they say, thank you so much for being patient with me. Hey, listen, no problem, right?

God's patient with me all the time. Can I talk to you about Jesus a little bit? Clearly, we've got all day. You can't figure out the cash register. Now, that'd be funny. I won't do that. But that patience with people. But listen, that doesn't come naturally to us. It doesn't come naturally to me. But I have learned, God has strengthened me to have patience.

I have learned to have patience in those areas. I have learned to have patience in those areas. I have learned to have patience in those areas. I have learned to have patience in those areas. I have learned to have patience in those areas. And not only can God strengthen us so that we can attain steadfastness and patience, but did you take note of the last adverb?

Joyously. That's what God's strength is able to do. He prays for them. Lord, give them the strength that they need to be steadfast in their circumstances, to be patient with the people around them, and do all of those things with joy. Because you can pretend to be patient with someone. You can pretend to be patient with somebody and not have joy in your heart.

But that's not called patience, right? It still looks like irritation. And he gives us everything that we need to even do so joyously. And so he prays for them, these five things, that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will, that they would walk worthy, that they would bear fruit, that they would increase in knowledge, and that they would be strengthened with his might.

And number six almost takes us into a different category of the prayer because it's thanksgiving. The giving of thanks. Notice what it says. Let's read all of verses 12 through 14.

I want you to think about something. What took up the most space in that entire prayer? Did you take note of it? The thanksgiving is what took up the most space in that entire prayer. The thanksgiving is what took up the most space in that entire prayer. That should tell you something. That should tell you how important the giving of thanks is in our prayer life, right?

Thanksgiving, as we talked about before, is the key to contentment. Thanksgiving is the key to contentment. And so he thanks God for a handful of things for these people. He first of all thanks God that he has qualified us to be partakers of his inheritance in the saints, of the saints in the light. The word qualified is a fascinating word because the word qualified means made sufficient.

He thanks God that God has made the Colossian people sufficient to receive his inheritance. Do you know that that's who you are today? You have been made sufficient because of what Jesus has done for you. You have been made enough because of what Jesus has done for you. Outside of Christ, you are always lacking, but in Christ you are fully sufficient because of who he is

and because of what he's done for you. And we should praise and thank God consistently that he has made me sufficient to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light. It's a beautiful thing. We have an inheritance waiting for us and God has made us sufficient for that inheritance. The second thing is that, he thanks God that he has rescued them

from the domain of darkness. He has rescued them from the domain of darkness. I love that imagery that he gives us there because you and I had been taken captive by the domain of darkness. We had been held hostage by the domain of darkness and Jesus came in and he rescued us from it. He saved us from it. He saved us from it. He saved us from it. You and I were held captive to that

which we had no control over and now he has rescued us from it. The third thing that he thanks God for is that he has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. He has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. Now again, this imagery would have meant a lot to them at that point in time because that entire phrase that he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his son, those are military terms.

When a king's army went in and took over another nation or another city-state, the king would come riding in after the victory had been completed and that city-state that had been taken over would be transferred to the ownership of the king. That's a military term that he uses. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and he has transferred us to the kingdom of his son. In other words, made citizens of the kingdom.

And all of that took place because of the next two things that he's going to tell us. But that's a pretty cool thought, isn't it? That no longer are we held captive, held hostage by the kingdom of darkness. We have been made citizens of the kingdom of Christ. And what made us citizens of the kingdom of Christ? In whom we have redemption. Redemption. Because he redeemed us.

The word redemption here means to purchase by the payment of God. To purchase by the payment of a ransom. To purchase by the payment of a ransom. Is that not a beautiful image? You and I were held captive by sin. And the only way that we could be set free is if a ransom was paid. Well, the ransom was a life for a life. And how did Jesus pay the ransom for us?

Well, he gave his life for ours. That's the ransom that he paid for us. How can you not give thanks to God when you realize that you're not paying for it? How can you not give thanks to God when you realize that he has made us sufficient to be partakers of an inheritance? That he has rescued us from the domain of darkness. That he has made us citizens of the kingdom of heaven

because he paid for our life with his life. Not only that, but notice what it says. In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The word forgiveness means the cancellation of a penalty. The penalty. The penalty. The cancellation of a penalty. Even more fully, it means the putting away of. He has put away our sins. There's beautiful imagery again that's used here.

Picture, if you will, you carrying a backpack full of weight. Right? You're carrying this really heavy backpack full of everything that you own in life. It's all on your back and it's all weighing you down. And you finally come to someone who can help. And they take the backpack and they lift it off of you. And they put it aside to where you no longer have to bear that weight any longer.

That's what Jesus did for us when he forgave our sins. You were carrying a burden of sin on you. And the day that he purchased you for himself, he took all of that off and he put it away so that you don't have to carry that weight any longer. The more you think about those things, the easier it is to give thanks. The easier it is to live a life of thankfulness

because no matter what takes place on this earth, you are free eternally. And you are not held down by the captivity of sin. You are not held down by the penalty of sin. You are not held down by the burden of sin because you have been set free. And so Paul gives us this. He gives us this beautiful prayer that he prays for the Colossian people. And I would encourage you

that over these next 10 days, be praying this for these people that are going on the mission trip. Be praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding that they would walk worthy of him and everything that they do, that they would bear much fruit in him, that they would continue to increase in the knowledge of him and that they would be strengthened in his might and praise God that they have been set free and that they can take that freedom to the people around them. Amen? Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you so much for the time that we've had in your word this morning. And Father, I want to pray that you would be with each of these folks here today. And Lord, I just want to pray this prayer for them. Father, that as Paul prayed for the Colossian people, I pray for everyone that's sitting here this morning

and everyone that may be watching online. Lord, Father, that you would fill us with the knowledge of your will. We just want to know how you want us to walk and where you want us to go. And Lord, as you fill us with that knowledge of your will, Lord, may it be with that understanding that you have something oftentimes deeper that we don't always see. Father, I pray that we would be able to walk

in a manner that is worthy of you, that we would please you with everything that we do. Father, that our lives would bear fruit, that we would stop trying to produce fruit, but Lord, that we would abide in you and bear fruit. Father, I pray for each one of us that we would steadily grow in our knowledge, our knowledge of you. And Father, that you would strengthen us with the power of your might, Lord, to have the patience that we need with the circumstances and the people that I know we're going to encounter.

And Lord, may all of those things be with joy. And Father, I thank you. Thank you for every person that's here. I thank you for the work that you've done in their life. Lord, I thank you that you have set them free from the bondage of sin, that you have set them free from the penalty of sin, and that you have set them free from the burden of sin. And Father, be with us.

As we go out from this place, in Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.

In the morning when I rise. In the morning when I rise. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus.

All said and done, rapture or death, there's going to be a transformation one day. This world just can't give us anything we really need. Give me Jesus. Thank you, Lord.