A Prayer for the Saints

Would you join me in prayer? It's an opportunity this morning to come and worship in song and be patient with us. You strengthen us with all might to live this Christian walk. And we thank you for coming to this earth.

We'll cross, raise you from the dead.

Can't emphasize that enough. Lord, when we get distracted with all that's going on, our blessings, name them one by one. You're so good to us, Lord. We thank you, Jesus. In intercession, would you all stand? We thank you for that opportunity. That ability you've given us as humans to communicate with you. That when we become born again spiritually, before we were spiritually dead, we become in tune in a different way.

We're not just depending on this soul and body, this mighty motion of will, that old body that animates us. But, oh, as spiritually born again Christians, it gives us a sensitivity to you and a leading and guiding by the Holy Spirit. We ask for that, Lord. Would you fill us afresh this morning as we study? Lord, as we worship, as we look to you. We thank you, Lord.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Glad that you have joined us this morning. A few things to take note of in your bulletin. Over on the left-hand side are the things that always take place during the week. So take note of those. In the middle, just a reminder about those two upcoming conferences. All the info is right there. So take note of that. And if you can join us, it'll be great. We'll have a great time together.

Ladies, the Galatians Joyful Life Women's Bible Study starts this Thursday. And if you haven't gotten signed up for that yet, there is still that sign-up sheet out in the lobby. And then Vacation Bible School. I'm actually going to invite my wife to come up and share with us for just a moment about VBS. Your bulletin this morning has the QR code so you can start getting your kids signed up.

Don't think, I'm going to do that later. You should. You should do it now. The quicker we know who all is coming, the better we can serve you guys. And so we want to be able to do that. This is open to any kids age 4 through 5th grade. The first two days, June 19th and 20th, are traditional VBS. And then on Friday, we'll have a celebration. So families are invited.

We'll have a barbecue in the back with hot dogs and chips and probably snow cones. So plan to come. I do need a few more helpers still. So that might look like barbecuing hot dogs or helping with kids, a few things here and there. So if you think that you might be able to fill one of those needs, just come talk to me after church. I am going to send out some sort of sheet this week over Flocknote of things we need donated.

We're turning the church into hometown Nazareth. And so we need blankets and pockets. Pottery and things like that. But don't give us anything that you can't live without. We want it labeled. We're going to try to give it back to you in the very best condition. But we don't want to be responsible for your family heirlooms. I think that's it. So we hope to see you there.

Okay. And then a couple of other things that are not in your bulletins. Well, I guess one other thing. Home fellowships. Just a reminder. The announcement. The announcement that Rick and Joe and Danielle made last week. If you are interested, if you've been praying about either hosting or leading a home fellowship, that sign-up sheet is still out there. It will be out there for another week or so.

So if that's what the Lord is leading you to do, make sure that you get signed up. Now, our missions team that's heading to Guatemala leaves tomorrow. So if I could invite up all those that are going on the missions trip. Because we want to pray over them. So come on up, crew. We're excited to be sending these guys out.

And I think Ross is going to share a couple things with us as well.

Good morning. Yeah. So everybody, I think, is everybody here?

Ginger and Nancy aren't here. Say we, just for those of you who don't know, we are going on a missions trip. We're leaving tomorrow morning to go to Guatemala. And so Ryan's going to, and all of you will pray over our team here. But what I wanted to tell you. Was that if they're, are these at the back? So, oh, these are in the bulletins. So you can, so if you all have one of these, if, if you would, what we would like to have you do is to, you know, on Tuesday and Wednesday of those days that we're meeting with those children, we're going to be leaving out from our base every day and driving to each one of these sites and then coming back.

So, you know, it may be like 10 o'clock in the morning or something like that. If you remember us, please put us on your prayer list. And be praying that we will be able to, to reach these children. There's a lot of, a lot of opportunity. And we've been told that in some cases, maybe we shouldn't share just so we can get invited back. Well, that's going to be tough, right?

So, you know, pray that God will open the doors and that we will have an opportunity to share God's word everywhere we go. And we know there's going to be lots of happy kids because I've seen all the stuff these guys are putting together for the children. So, you know, we can, you know, we're going to keep them entertained. But mainly we want to share the word of God and be able to plant the word in everywhere we go.

So, that's it. All right. So, we, oh, what?

And praying that we get through customs. Okay, we can't fit all of you on the stage. But if where you're sitting, just hold your hand out. I'm going to lay hands on these guys and then just hold your hand out. We're just going to pray over them, okay? So, Father, we come before you and I just lift up this missions team to you right now. Lord, I'm so blessed that we get to send a team out to go do the work.

Look of the ministry outside of not only the four walls of this church, Lord, but even beyond our borders. And so, Father, I lift up every aspect of the trip. Father, starting with travel, getting through customs, all the little details that can cause sometimes the most stress. And, Father, just pray that you would give them favor in the eyes of everybody that they come across.

Lord, I want to pray that you would be with the team as they prepare to minister. Lord, do in their hearts what needs to be done in their hearts to give them everything that they need. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I just ask for that overflowing power of your Holy Spirit to be on them in Jesus' name.

Amen. Right. Thank you, guys. Looking forward to hearing what God does. And, again, if this did not end up in your bulletin, there's some out there, so be praying for them. Okay. For our responsive reading this morning. we are going to be in Psalm 56, looking at the New American Standards so that we can all sound the same. And can we get the lights back up a little bit? Or maybe they're up and I just didn't

know it. Okay, good. I was like, man, I need to go see that guy over there if that's the case. Psalm 56, look at the New American Standard. If you need a copy, there should be one around you. 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, I don't know the rest of those words, 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 to me? 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. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day 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. For you have delivered my soul from death. Indeed, my feet from stumbling, so that I may walk before God in the light of the living. And Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for the time that we get to spend

in your word this morning. Father, I ask that you administer to our hearts. Father, I pray that you would calm our hearts and our minds as there are so many stresses that can sometimes distract us in these times. And so, Lord, I ask that you would move by the power of your Holy Spirit as you see fit in this place this morning. Amen. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians chapter 1.

Last week, we started with the introduction to Colossians. And much like Philippians, it was a book that was written while Paul was in prison. Only, Paul wrote this book for the purpose of correcting heresy within the Colossian church. And so, we talked just a little bit about that last week. But what we really talked about last week is his thankfulness for the people,

that they were a people of faith, that they were a people of love, and that they were a people of hope. And in spite of the fact that there were issues that needed dealt with, those things remained unchanging. Well, today, as we come to this next section in chapter 1, we're going to see a prayer for the saints. Paul is going to pray for these Colossian people, just like he said he does on a consistent basis.

And as he prays for them, he says, Paul graciously wrote down what his prayer for these Colossian people is. And so, we start in chapter 1, verse 9, and this is what it says. For this reason also, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, and all wisdom, and spiritual understanding, so that you will 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 end of days.

Strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for the end of days. Strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, attaining of all steadfastness and patience joyously, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in 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, before we get into the actual prayer that Paul prays for these Ephesians people, I keep doing this, these Colossian people, I want to point out to you what he says in the beginning of verse 9. He says, For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you.

Paul's unceasing prayer for the Colossian people. Now, as we talk about prayer, I am always reminded of the fact that prayer can be kind of a difficult thing for us as human beings. It's a very unnatural thing for us to do, to talk to God that we cannot see, and we can only commune with in a spiritual, spiritual sort of way. It doesn't always come very naturally to us, right?

And so, first of all, I want you to know, if you struggle with your prayer life, if that's an unnatural thing and a difficult thing for you to do, you're not alone. As a matter of fact, Jesus' disciples struggled with their prayer life. One day, Jesus was with his disciples, and they had witnessed how often he prayed, and the one thing that they said to Jesus was, Lord, teach us to pray. And I'm reminded that one of the greatest things we can do if we have that struggle is we can say, Lord, teach me how to pray.

And God will always graciously do that. But I'm also reminded that even though it's very unnatural to us, it's also not as complicated as we make it. It's actually a lot easier than we make it to be. You see, usually, when we view prayer, we think that we have to have all of the right words, they have to be said in all of the right ways, and we have to have the right kind of education because we don't want to sound stupid when we pray.

I don't know about you all, but one of the most difficult things that you can do, especially as a new believer, is to pray in front of people. You ever had to do that? Where you end up in a prayer circle, and everybody looks at you, it's your turn to pray, and you're like, um, pass, right? Because that's kind of how you feel. Because you're like, I'm going to say something stupid.

Listen, I say stupid things when I pray all the time, right? Let's not make it more difficult than it needs to be. It's actually a lot more natural than we make it. It doesn't have to be complicated. Prayer is simply telling God everything that you're thinking and feeling, and it doesn't always have to be with the right words. But if you, if you are concerned about using the right words,

one of the greatest things that you can do is use the prayers of Scripture. Because first of all, you know that you're using the right words because they're the words of God, right? They are God's words written down for us. But the other thing is that we can know that we are praying according to God's will because it's in God's word. And so there's great confidence that we can have

in using these prayers. And so one of the things that I used to like to do is I used to keep a copy of these different prayers in the front of like a prayer journal, and I would put it in the front of like a prayer journal, that I would keep, or a prayer notebook. Apparently men aren't supposed to have journals, which nobody told me that 20 years ago when I first started keeping one. Men are supposed to have notebooks.

But anyway, I still keep a prayer journal. And I would write down these little prayers and I would keep them in the front. That way when I was praying, I could just easily flip to the front of that notebook and I would know that that prayer was there and I would start praying it for people, right? Whether it be for myself or for other people. So I always encourage people

to use the prayers of Scripture because it always helps a lot. Now, the second thing that I want to point out about this is that Paul said, I pray without ceasing. Matter of fact, there's another place in Scripture where he tells us to pray without ceasing. So here's my question for you that I want you to think about. Does this mean that Paul walked around all the time

with his head bowed and his eyes closed? Of course not. That's what fail videos are made out of, right? It's people that walk around with their heads bowed and their eyes closed all the time. That's not the idea that Paul tells us. I also don't think that Paul was constantly just talking to Jesus. What I do think that he talks about is a constant attitude of prayer

and a consistent lifestyle. A life of prayer. See, here's the thing. This is the way that I view prayer. I'm not always good at stopping to take the time to pray because I have mild ADHD, have not been diagnosed, self-diagnosed on that, and I'm a busy person. So it's hard for me sometimes to sit down and just take a half an hour to pray. But what I do is I live my life by praying.

And everything that I do throughout the day involves a prayer that goes along with it. Somebody stops me and says, hey, pastor, I have a question for you. You know what the first thing I do is? Is I say, Lord, help. Right? Because I don't know what's coming. I don't know what question is coming. I used to tell people, you can't shock me. Turns out that was wrong.

You know, sometimes that just happens in life, right? Because we're human beings. And so I just stop and pray, Lord, help me. Because I don't know what's going to come next. And I don't always know if I have the wisdom to be able to give to this person. As a matter of fact, 99.9% of the time, I don't have the wisdom to give them. That's why I need God. And I live my life in this constant place of prayer.

Or if I get a text from somebody, this happens to me a lot. And I love it. Don't ever not do this, okay? I'll get a text from somebody that says, hey, I've got this going on. Can you pray for me? And as soon as I get it, I click, sure will. And I just stop and I just pray for it right then. That's the idea of constantly praying. Listen, you don't have to live your life

always with your head bowed and your eyes closed. But there should be a consistency and a constancy about the way that you are continually giving things to God in prayer. And that's what Paul says he does for these Ephesian people, or for these Colossian people. And so as he does this, he lays out this prayer for us. And as I look at it, there's six things,

one of which is a thanksgiving for these people, but there's six things that he's gonna pray for these Colossian people. So let's go through these one by one. The first thing that he prays for them, number one, is that they will be filled with the knowledge of his will. Notice what it says, middle of verse nine. I do not cease to pray for you and ask that you may be filled

with the knowledge of his will in all ways. The word knowledge there means a personal and an experiential knowledge. In other words, he doesn't want you just to have a head knowledge of God's will. He wants you to have a real knowledge of God's will. You see, a head knowledge doesn't do anything to you, but a real knowledge changes who you are. The second thing he says about this is he says

that you wouldn't have the knowledge, that personal experiential knowledge of what? God's will. The mysterious thing that we always talk about. What is God's will? As defined here, I think by the Kenneth Weiss translation, the idea of will is his will for the conduct of our lives. And honestly, if we simplify what we want God to tell us is we want God to tell us

how we're supposed to live our lives. Is that true? Do we not all agree that when we are seeking God's will, we want to know what he wants us to do in our life? Whether it be what job we're supposed to take, what spouse we're supposed to have, how we're supposed to handle the situation in front of us today, what school you're supposed to go to, what major you're supposed to go into.

All of those things can all be encapsulated with that one phrase, how you live your life. And so Paul prays. He says, Lord, I pray for these Colossian people that they will have the experiential, not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge of how they're supposed to live their lives. How you want them to conduct their lives. And do you know that as you begin to pray for that,

God will begin to reveal that to you in small ways. And then oftentimes after the small ways, he reveals it in big ways. But I want you to notice the little caveats that he puts upon knowing God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The idea behind that is a spiritual insight, a spiritual insight into his purposes. A spiritual insight into his purposes.

Let me tell you what he means by that. We start praying for God's will. Lord, how do you want me to act in this situation? What do you want me to do? And then we begin to identify our own will, right? Lord, I'm pretty sure this seems like the best thing to do. And so we start praying that God would do our will in our lives. And God starts saying, no, do this over here.

And you're going, no, no, wait a second, God. Your will doesn't make sense, mine does. So I think I should do what I want. And God says, no, no, you don't understand. I want you to do this. And you start going, okay, it doesn't make any sense. But if that's what you want me to do, then you go and do what God wants you to do. And all of a sudden it all comes together

and you're like, that's why he wanted me to do that. You see, that is the spiritual insight into his purposes. Let me give you a little bit of time. Let me give you a little bit of time. Let me give you a little bit of time. Let me give you a little bit of time. Let me give you a little bit of time. Let me give you an illustration from my own life. I've shared this story before,

but it seems to fit this really well. It was June of 2008, right? Set the scene for you here. And I was in a job that I didn't really like. And all I wanted to do was to be in full-time ministry. And some friends of ours, it's actually my wife's cousin, who actually pastors a church in Nashville now. They were living in Nashville at the time and they came and visited us back in Kansas City.

Group of us went to the lake together. We're sitting on the boat talking and they say, hey, we need to do this. We need a youth pastor at our church. We started going to a Calvary there and we need a youth pastor there. Well, we're like, this is perfect. This is exactly what I wanted. This is a full-time job in youth ministry. This is all I want to do with my life.

I think this might be God's will. So we set up a trip. We go visit them. I interview with the pastor. The trip was amazing. It has some of the funniest stories I could ever tell involved in it. But the interview was not as good as I thought it was going to be. And the church was not, what I thought it was going to be. And nothing felt right. And I just kind of knew, Lord,

this seems to make sense. This seems to be everything that I want. It's the job that I want. It's a cool city. It's a cool church. I want to be here. Why doesn't it make sense? And so I left feeling like that probably wasn't what I was supposed to do. But the worst thing is when you get the confirmation call that it's not what you're supposed to do because the pastor calls me up

and leaves me a message and he says, hey Ryan, I've really enjoyed my time with you and I think God has an amazing work for you in Kansas. I don't know what it is, but I cannot escape the thought that God has something for you in Kansas. I don't think you're supposed to be the person that's here. So I'm praying that God is going to reveal what that is to you.

July of 2008. So I surrendered to being where I was. I surrendered to God's will for me at that point in time. And I waited. And then in October of 2009, I lost my job. I lost my job in construction. And around that time, I was coming down here to fill in a lot. And the guys down here said, hey Ryan, why don't you come on staff with us down at Calvary Chapel of Ark City?

And now here I am today. At the time, this is what I thought I wanted. But God said, no, this is my will for you. You just can't see my purposes yet. And so we need to pray, Lord, reveal your will to me and help me to understand and understand insight into your purposes. Because we don't always see what God is doing behind the scenes. We were talking about this

the other night when we were in 1 Samuel. Because in 1 Samuel, a terrible tragedy had taken place. The children of Israel had lost the Ark of the Covenant in battle. And so the Ark was gone. The high priest died. Everything was going wrong as far as the nation of Israel was concerned. And from all outward appearances, you go, Lord, how can this be your will?

Until you come to the next day. Until you come to the next chapter when Samuel preaches a message of repentance. And all of a sudden, everyone's hearts are prepared for repentance. And there's a revival that takes place in the nation and they're able to defeat the Philistines. You see, that which seemed awful was preparing them for the revival. We don't always see what God is doing at the time,

which is why we need to pray, Lord, fill us with the knowledge of your will in spiritual wisdom and understanding. Help us to see your spiritual purposes. Amen. Number two, he prays that they would walk worthy, that they would walk worthy. Notice what it says. So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects. The word walk,

as it's often used in scripture, means the order of your life, or if you will, the way that you live your life. The really interesting word to look at in this verse is the word walk. Worthy. Because the word worthy means of equal weight. So what it means is this. Your walk should be worthy of the same weight as the Lord that you follow. Does that make sense?

Your walk should match what you claim. The day that you came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the day that you confessed your sins, accepted him as your Savior, you became born again. And the day that you became born again, you became clothed in the righteousness of Christ. You were set apart unto him. You were justified. You were sanctified. All the things.

But now, knowing that, your life should begin to match in weight who you are in Christ. Your life should be worthy to where if you throw your life in a scale next to who you are, it matches up. We see it all the time in tabloids, don't we? The, the, the son of a king or the son of the, you know, billionaire, whatever, has a drug problem, right? And, and he does everything to shame the name.

And everybody says he's got to learn to live up to his name. And it becomes this scandal, right? Well, oftentimes that same scandal that we see take place on earth, it takes place in heaven. Because they see someone who bears the name of Jesus and they say, he's got to learn to live up to his name. He's got to learn to live up to his name. Now, it's not something that you have to try to do.

You have to surrender to Jesus. That's why we're praying that we would walk worthy. The idea carried even further of a worthy walk is explained really well in the Amplified Bible. Let me read to you what it says. That you would walk worthy to have admirable character, to have moral courage, and to have personal integrity. So that you can please God in everything that you do.

So that you can please him in everything that you do. And do you know, we've been given a great example of pleasing God in everything that we do? And his name is Jesus. You may remember there's a place in the Gospels where Jesus says, I always do those things that please my father. And so we look at the example of Jesus and we seek to follow the example of Jesus.

But I want to remind you of something. Right thinking leads to right living. Did you notice the order of things? The first thing that we need to know is God's will for our life. Why? So that we can walk in a manner that's worthy of him. If I want to walk the way that God wants me to, then I need to know how God wants me to walk because right thinking leads to right living.

The reason why most of us don't live the way that we're supposed to is because we are not filling our minds with the knowledge of God's will. Amen? And so we see that number one, he prays 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. That we would bear fruit. Hold on, I just lost my place.

I don't know why that happens to me so easy. That you would walk in a manner that's worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good. Now, I want to point something out to you about what this does not say. We're going to start with that. This does not say that you would produce fruit. Paul does not pray that you would produce fruit.

Ryan, what's the difference? Factories produce things. Gardens bear things. Factories produce things. Trees bear fruit, right? You see, too many of us try to be factories and we try to produce stuff. We try to work really hard to try to produce all of the right kinds of fruit. Only the problem is, when you start getting fruit that's produced in a factory, it's not always very good, right?

Because it's not fresh. And then the factory breaks down and it needs maintenance. And that's the way you are. When you try to produce fruit, you break down and you need some maintenance. No, what are we to do instead? We're to bear fruit. I don't know very much about vines, but I do know a little bit about trees. Over here where the River's Eagle something or other is,

a new restaurant that they just built not too long ago. There used to be an orchard there. My uncle owned it. And I used to go there with my grandpa when I was a little kid and I'd pick fruit. He'd wear this great big sack on himself and he'd climb up in the tree and pick all the fruit and fill it all up. And some of the apples would fall down and he'd give me a basket.

And I'd pick up the apples that would fell and put them in the basket. And it was always fascinating to see because those branches didn't do anything to make that fruit. All the branches did was hang out, right? They just hung out there and the fruit was just born on the trees. The only thing that they had to do, was to stay connected to the trunk. As long as they stayed connected to the trunk of the tree,

they would produce fruit. They would bear fruit, right? Why? Because the trunk was giving them everything that they need. They just needed to stay connected. Well, Jesus gives us the same illustration in John chapter 15, when he says, I am the vine, the trunk, you are the branches. And if you abide in me, then you will produce much fruit. You will bear much fruit.

And so when he says that you would bear fruit in every good work, what he's really praying is that you would abide in Christ so that you can bear the fruit of abiding in Christ. Because as you know God's will and live out God's will, you bear fruit through God's will, amen? And so he prays that we would be filled with the knowledge of his will, that we would walk worthy, that we would bear fruit. Number four, he prays that we would, that we would increase in the knowledge of God, that we would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, verse 10, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

The word increase is a great word here. The word increase could also be translated to steadily grow. Oh, I appreciate that phrase, to steadily grow. Because it reminds me of who I am in my walk with Jesus Christ. That I am going to steadily grow into who God has called for me to be. That I'm gonna steadily grow in my knowledge of who he is. Because the day that I got saved,

I was not perfected that day. 25 years later, I'm still not perfected yet, right? I'm still, actually I think it's been 27 years now, but that's not the point. All this time later, I'm still not perfected yet. What am I doing? I'm growing steadily. Now, sometimes we, we can get discouraged because sometimes steady growth isn't always noticed. You know how I know that?

Because I'm raising kids. And when you're raising kids, you don't always notice their growth day by day, right? Because I'm around them every single day. So my daughters who are now getting older, preteen, teen, teenage daughters, they look a lot different than they did 10 years ago, right? Because they've been steadily growing. Even though as I watch them,

I don't always notice just how much they've grown until I go back and look at a picture of them from five or 10 years ago. And I go, oh my gosh, I can't believe how much they've changed, right? Well, that's the way it is in our walk with Jesus Christ. If we are steadily growing, you may not notice it on you on the daily. You may not notice it day in and day out

that you're growing in Christ. It's not until you go back and evaluate who you were five years ago and who you are now that you go, oh, that's amazing. I can't believe what God has done in me in that amount of time. One of the joys of working with young people is that as those young people grow up and they graduate high school, and they go on and grow in their walks with Jesus Christ, because unfortunately I have some that don't do that, but those that go off and grow in their walks with Jesus Christ and come back and talk to me, I go, wow, it is so amazing to see what God has done in you these past four or five years, five or six years, however long it is, because they have been steadily growing in Christ.

And Paul prays that we, not only the Colossian people, but that we would be steadily, growing, and what are we to steadily grow in? Our knowledge of God. Our knowledge of God. A deeper faith, a clearer insight, a fervent love for His precepts, that we would grow in that knowledge. You see, as I grow in that, steadily in that knowledge of God, so much changes about who I am.

First of all, I begin to relax a little bit more, because I start relaxing in who I am. That's that deeper faith. I can relax a little bit more about who I am in Christ. And as I relax a little bit more about who I am in Christ, I start to have more of a clearer insight into God's will, into what God's doing in me, into what God wants to do around me, into what God's doing in other people.

It brings a little patience to me. And as I grow in my faith, and as I gain that clearer insight, I gain such a love for God's Word. As a matter of fact, I would say one of the greatest tests of how much you're growing in Christ, is how much you're loving God's Word. If you find yourself offended by God's Word right now, I want you to ask yourself a question.

Why? What's stunting my growth in Christ that's causing me to be offended at God's Word? Now, are there times where I have to stop and go, well, that one doesn't make sense to me? Yes, absolutely. But when I start being offended at what God's Word has to say, that tells me something is stunted in my life, and I need to ask God why. Because something is keeping me

from growing steadily in Him. Because that knowledge of God causes me to fall deeper in love with Him, and also causes me to grow an even greater love for His Word. And so, He prays that we would increase in our knowledge of God. Now, there's one last thing that I want to give to you, and it's a quote from Andrew Murray, out of his book, The Holiest of All, which is a commentary on the book of Hebrews.

This is what he says. He says, Our one need is to know Jesus better. He is the one cure for all of our feebleness. Isn't that a great quote? Because it's so true. If you have feeble areas of your life, I will tell you, I can give you a much simpler remedy to the issues that you're dealing with than most of the world can. I would tell you that you need to know Jesus more.

I would tell you that a deeper understanding of who Christ is and who you are in Christ will actually do more to solve your issues than a whole lot of other things in life. Because He is the one cure for all of our feebleness. You see, as I get to know Jesus, I learn about who I am as a sinner, which takes away all of my self-confidence. But I also learn about who I am as a saint, which restores a godly confidence.

As I draw closer to Jesus and I understand who I am as a saint, I begin to really become confident in Him, which causes my love for Him to grow more and more. And as my love for Him grows more and more, my love for other people tends to grow more and more because I can't love Jesus without loving people. And I can't love people because I can't love Jesus without loving people. I can't love people without loving Jesus.

And as I grow in my knowledge of Him, I get more and more convicted of the sin that I have in my life. And He more and more wants to change that sin in me. But as I get to know Him more, I realize that the thing that He is convicting me of is the thing that He is delivering me from by His precious blood. Because the same blood that saved me is the blood that is also keeping me and is transforming me into Him.

That you would increase in your knowledge of God. And then number five, that you would be strengthened with His might. Notice what it says in verse 11. Strengthened with all power according to His glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience with joy. Those words strengthened and power come from the same root word. The Greek word is dunamis,

which means strength. But one is a verb and one is a noun. The word power is the noun there, which speaks of just the benignness, the benign nature of power. That's what we want to have in our lives. We want to have power. We want to have strength, right? But then that word strengthened is the verb, which means to endue with strength or to make strong. In other words,

to be infused with power from God. And that's what we need in our lives. We need to be strengthened with His power, to be strengthened with His might for everything that I do in my life, for every aspect of my life. This is not just the power, but the strength that I have. I need strength for every aspect of my life. I need strength for every aspect of my life.

I need strength for every aspect of everything that I do in my life. And so do you. You see, much like prayer, we put our need for God's strength into three categories. That one's too much for God. This one's too little for God. This is just right for God. And so when it's a just right situation, we pray, Lord, I need your strength. And when it's too big, we don't even deal with it, right?

God's not going to do that one. I'm not even going to ask Him for His strength to do it. But who knows? Who knows what God might want to do with you that is completely impossible, but with His power, you can do it. But then I think the most dangerous category that we have is the category of that's too small for God. I don't need God for those. I can handle those.

I can handle that problem on my own. That one's no big deal. The moment that you think to yourself, I don't need God for that one, man, are you in trouble, right? Because boy, did you need God for that one. You need God for every aspect of your life. And so you need to seek His strength for every aspect of your life. But I want you to notice, in particular,

what we are to seek God's power for. Remember, we talked about this in Philippians 4, verse 13, right? That was the one where he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And do you remember what the main heart of what he was going to strengthen us to do was? It was contentment, right? Well, this is kind of like that, only contentment's favorite twin brother, patience.

Because he says, strengthen with all power according to His glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience. Well, that's not fun. Those aren't fun things, right? I want God's strength to rip a phone book, right? I want God's strength to run through a wall. No, you need God's strength to be patient. But there's two different words that are used there for patience.

There's steadfastness and patience. The word steadfastness is a word for patience, but it is patience for circumstances. Patience for circumstances. Have you ever, fellas especially, have you ever gone to work on something? You set up your Saturday project. You know what you're going to do. You go out to start working on the Saturday project and the tool that you were going to use doesn't work.

So the first thing that you have to do before you can even get started on the project is you have to make the tool work. And so let's say you're going to power wash the deck, right? And so you set out to power wash. The problem is the power washer won't start. So you're like, oh, I bet it needs a new spark plug. So you go to put a new spark plug and then you break the spark plug off, right?

Then you've got to figure out how to get the spark plug out of there as you're trying to make this power washer work. And pretty soon, by the time you're ready to power wash, the day is gone. And you just need a great deal of patience because you're so frustrated with the circumstances. That's what steadfastness is. Let me tell you a little story from my own life about this, okay?

I'm still, I'm not there yet, right? I'm a work in progress. Have you ever noticed that if you're ever running, late somewhere, whoever you drive behind is literally the slowest driver on planet earth, right? So last Tuesday, we had to drive to Wichita for a follow-up appointment on my daughter's knee. And this is one of those places that if you're late for the appointment,

they will ding dong give that appointment away, right? I mean, they're like, well, you're a minute late, too bad. And doctor's not going to see you now. And you're like, I'm going to wait here for an hour after I get here and you're going to give my appointment away? And so we do one hour and 15 minutes. And we left with one hour and 15 minutes to get to that location.

Now, I don't mind getting a little rambunctious and making sure that I can get there, you know? I view it as a little bit of a challenge to beat whatever it says on the map, right? Come on now. And so I take off and I get on the little bypass in between the, takes you by Country Club Road there in Winfield. And you know, there's a spot where that turns to 45.

It's not till halfway down the road, people, okay? I pull off the highway where it's, it's still 65 and someone is going 45. And I'm like, you have got to be kidding me. So every now and then I'm swinging out to see if I can pass. And every time I swing out, there's some semi coming at me. I'm like, not today, not today. So I ride behind this thing until we get to Winfield.

And thank God the guy turned right, right? So I'm like, okay, no problem. So I turn left, I get just outside of town and there are three cars going 55. And I'm like, dude, this is, we could at least be doing 65. I like 72, that feels right. But we could at least do 65. And there's three of them. And every time, nope, semi coming, right? And every time I, and I'm just like,

oh, I'm getting so frustrated. My wife looked at me and she goes, have you ever noticed anytime you really want to drive fast, there's always cars in front of you driving slow? I'm like, I have actually noticed that. It may actually be Jesus teaching me patience. I think that was our exact conversation. So I get a little bit of road rage sometimes. I'm not, listen, I'm redeemed,

but I still don't always walk worthy yet, okay? And so we need that patience. If only I would have said, Lord, give me strength to have steadfastness, maybe I wouldn't have gotten so upset, right? And so that's the first aspect of patience that comes with our strengthening. But then there's the actual word patience, which means patience with people. Oh, now it got hard, right?

I think it's one thing, like I can't blame the power washer. I can't blame the power washer. I can't blame the power washer. I can't blame the power washer. I can't blame the power washer. I can't blame the power washer. I can't blame the power washer. I can't blame the power washer. Maybe my second story, I actually had to do more with people. Anyway, because I guess I can't blame people for that.

But sometimes people are really hard to be patient with, right? My oldest daughter's working for the donut shop now, and she gets to work among the public. Now, I think every human being should have to work amongst the public. I'm not just talking you get a job where other people are. I'm talking you serve the public, right? Because if there's anything that will teach you patience in your life,

it's serving the public. She's like, Dad, they got mad at me, and it wasn't even my fault. I'm like, welcome to service, right? Welcome to ministry. Because this is what happens in life. People get mad at us, and it's not even our fault. And sometimes being patient with people is the hardest thing in the world to do because quite frankly, you're as ugly as I am, right?

You have the same sin nature that I do, and sometimes it's really hard to be patient with. Now, one of the places that I have ultimately learned to be patient with people, though, is in places where, they either serve my coffee or they serve my food. Now, I'll not lie. To an extent, there's a little bit of selfishness involved here, okay? First of all, I want whoever's making my coffee and food

to like me a lot, right? I want them to be a big fan of me. Like, I want them to give me the best of whatever they're giving me. So I'm really, really, really nice to people. And I've kind of learned this, right? To not be frustrated with people, especially right now in today's world. Listen, y'all, if somebody's serving you food or something, just be patient with them.

300 people have already told them how stupid they are, and they're understaffed anyway, and I want them to keep bringing me food. Don't be the reason they get fired today or they quit, okay? So be a little bit patient. But it's a lot easier to be patient with those people, first of all, because I want them to like me. Second of all, confession time. If you're really nice to people that serve you food,

sometimes they give you food for free. I can't help that. I can't change that. It's just what happens sometimes, right? It's a little different than it used to be. Hallelujah, brother. It's a little different than it used to be in today's economy, but I got confidence. I've pumped a lot of coffee in my life, okay? That's all I'm saying. But anyway, I've learned to be really patient

with those people. I used to work at College Hill Coffee when I first moved down here, and they've got this little computer thing, point of service, where you enter the order. And I am not smart with computers, okay? I can read big words and know what those mean sometimes, and when it comes to dealing with something like that, I'm like, what size was that again?

Hotter iced, right? And that was me the entire time, and I just felt like an absolute, I worked for like three months. I could never figure that stupid thing out. I could never figure that stupid thing out. I could never figure that stupid thing out. I could never figure that stupid thing out. And some other girl who was like 17 would always be like, move. And I'm like, thank you, right?

And so anytime I go to a place where somebody is doing that, where they're like, I am so sorry. I'm just learning. I'm like, I don't care. Go ahead, I've done this before, man. I know this takes time. I'm with you. But it is amazing how if you can be patient with people in those situations, they are so soft to hear the gospel. I promise. Because when somebody's used to getting yelled at

for their mistakes, and you just say, it's okay, just take your time. You're gonna get it figured out. Then they're a lot softer to hear the gospel from you. They say, how can you be so patient? And you say, well, God's really patient with me. Can I tell you more about him? And I'm like, I've got all the time in the world. You can't figure the cash register out anyway, right?

Like we can just, we'll have a little gospel conversation here. And it's amazing how people will do that if you can be patient. But listen, you can't be patient with people unless you've been strengthened with the mind of God. Because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't come very naturally to us, right? But I want to throw in one last word that he gives there.

Did you notice the very last adverb that he uses? That you would have steadfastness and patience, semicolon, joyously, right? Because can we be honest and say that if you're not patient with joy, maybe you're not really all that patient? And so that's what needs to be exuding from our lives. But listen, it's the fruit of the Holy Spirit anyway, right? And so he prays for them.

He prays 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 the knowledge of God, and that they would be strengthened with his might. And now we come to the last thing, which is the giving of thanks. Starting in verse 12, notice what it says. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints and light.

For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved, the Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Giving of thanks. Do you know what the key to contentment is? Thanksgiving. Being thankful for what God has done for you. Did you notice that of all of the things that Paul prayed for them, the giving of thanks took up the most space?

It took up the most time for him to write that. You know why? Because the most important thing that we can do in our prayer life is to learn to give thanks. To the Lord for what he's done. And everything that Paul gives thanks for has nothing to do with their material things. Did you notice that? It all has to do with who they are in Christ. Notice what it says.

He says, giving thanks to the Father who has, number one, qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints and the light. The word qualified means made sufficient. He has made you enough in order to partake in the inheritance that he has prepared for you. It's here. He who has done it, not you. And we can be thankful to God for that. Lord, thank you that you have made me sufficient,

that you are more than enough for me, that you have qualified me for an inheritance that I would never deserve. The second thing that he thanks God for is that he has rescued them from the kingdom of darkness, transferred them to the kingdom of light, that he has rescued them from the kingdom of darkness. I love the imagery of the verse. I love the verbiage that he uses there because it carries with it the idea that we were at one time held hostage, that we were at one time held captive by darkness.

Because listen, that's who we were. We were held captive by sin. We were hostages to sin. We were dying in a prison of sin. And what did he come in and do? He came in and rescued us. He came in and set us free from that prison. And then he did the third thing for us. After he rescued us, number three, he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. That phrase rescued us and transferred us

are military terms. And they speak of what one does when they take over a city. You see, at that point in time, when an army would take over a city, they would go in ahead of the king. They would do the work of the military. And then when the king showed up, they would essentially hand all of the citizens over to the king and say, these have now been transferred to you.

They are now citizens of your kingdom. And that's what Jesus did for us. He rescued us from the bondage of sin and he transferred us into his kingdom, making us citizens of his own. And then the last thing, the last two things that it says is he did this by redeeming us. In whom we have redemption. The word redeemed or redemption means purchased by the payment of a ransom.

Purchased by the payment of a ransom. You and I had a debt that we owed. And the debt that we owed was our life. The only way that that debt could be paid was a life for a life. So how did Jesus redeem us? How did he pay the penalty for our ransom? It was easy. He said, take my life for theirs. I'll give up my life so that they can have their life. And when he stepped forward,

he took our place. And he paid our ransom. The most beautiful picture of this in the New Testament, in my opinion, is that of Barabbas. There's actually a great song out right now by Josiah Queen. It's called, I Am Barabbas. It's an amazing song. You should listen to it later. And it's all about how that's who he sees himself as. Because if you don't know the story,

Jesus was on trial to be crucified and Pilate was trying to get out of crucifying Jesus. And there was a custom during the Passover because during the Passover, Pilate would always release one political prisoner to the people, whoever they chose. And he said, I know what I'll do. I'll release a political prisoner. You can either have Jesus, who is an accused insurrectionist,

or you can have Barabbas, who is an actual insurrectionist. Barabbas was guilty of everything that they accused Jesus of. And they said, he said, who do you want me to release? And they said, give us Barabbas. And so Jesus, who is innocent, took the place of Barabbas, who is guilty. guilty. That's why in that song, it's so amazing, he just keeps singing, I am Barabbas, because he

paid the penalty for me, because he redeemed me with his life. In him, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That word forgiveness means to put away, to cancel the penalty. Picture this, if you will. Picture the fact, let's say you want to go backpacking. I don't know why you'd want to do that, but you want to go backpacking. And so you put everything

that you own in this backpack, right? And you're carrying this thing, it weighs a ton, I've done this before, it is kind of fun. But I'm here to tell you right now, taking that backpack off is the most amazing feeling in the world. You put all your stuff in this backpack for three days, your food, your everything else, and you go walking, and you're carrying this, we'll call it a burden, right? The burden of this backpack. And finally, you get to camp. And what do you do when

you get to camp? And you get to camp. And you get to camp. And you get to camp. And you get to camp. And you get to camp. And you get to camp. And you take the backpack off, and you set it aside. You and I, before we came to know Jesus, were carrying around a backpack. Only that backpack wasn't full of our belongings. That backpack was full of our sins. And we are worn out with it, because it is a burden that we're

carrying. And when we come to Jesus, it's like coming to camp. And he goes, he takes that backpack off of us and sets it aside, and we can go. So, I don't know where you're at in your life today, but maybe you find yourself going, I don't have much to be thankful for, Ryan. I've lost my job. I've lost my wife. I've lost my money. You name it. Whatever you feel like you don't have in this world that you think you should have. You're

like, I don't have very much to be thankful for. I'm here to tell you right now, if you're a born again believer in Jesus Christ this morning, you have a reason to be thankful. Because you have been qualified for an inheritance. You have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness. You have been made a citizen of heaven. You have had the penalty of sin removed from you. You have been

and you have had the burden of sin removed from you. And if that's not a reason to give thanks, then I don't know what to tell you. Because to me, that causes my heart to leap on the inside, knowing that I don't carry that burden any longer. And brothers and sisters, there is a reason to give thanks. Amen? Let's all stand. I would encourage you that as this

ministry team goes out to Guatemala, that you would pray this prayer, of Colossians chapter 1, for this ministry team. As a matter of fact, I'm going to pray it over us right now. So would you bow with me? Father, we come to you. And Lord, I thank you. Thank you for who you are. And we've been able to study your word this morning. And so Lord, for every person that's gathered here, for every

person that's watching online, Lord, would you do your work? Father, would you fill us with the knowledge of your will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, Lord? Help us to know it, not just in our heads, but in our hearts. And Lord, help us to know it, not just in our heads, but in our hearts. And Lord, help us to know it, not just in our heads, but in our hearts. And Lord,

that we would walk in a manner that's worthy of you, Lord, that our lives would match up to who we are in Christ. And Lord, that if there are things that are keeping us from walking worthy with you, that we would lay those at your feet and no longer carry them anymore. Father, I pray that we would be fruitful in every good work, Lord, that we would bear fruit in you, and that fruit would be fruit that remains. And Father, that we would steadily grow in our knowledge of you. And that as we grow in our knowledge of you, Lord,

we would be strengthened with all might. Lord, according to your glorious power, Lord, to have the steadfastness and the patience with joy that we need. And Lord, we thank you so much. We thank you that you have delivered us from the power of sin, from the penalty of sin, and from the burden of sin. And so, Lord, we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name, amen.

Be blessed.

Jesus, give me... ...your Holy Spirit, and I too, for your blessing on the mission team. Get them there safely. Bless the ministry that takes place. Prepare the hearts of the people there for the ministry that you have for them, and really for the ministry they'll be even doing, just as they participate in what you have called these folks to do over there, Lord. And just bless them, Lord,

and bring them back to us safely. We thank you. We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Have a blessed week.