COLOSSIANS 4:2-18

Many of you will know Jody. Jody's been around, he said, 12 or 13 years. He's been on staff. He's been an elder. He was the executive director of at the Life Center.

He serves on their board now. He says he swept floors and done all kinds of things here. Jody's a normal human being, right, Jody? Very much normal, Jodi. Very normal.

And he's here as another everyday person to read through our scripture for today. Today that we're studying. Thanks for being here, Jody. Sure, Josh. Thanks.

Thank you for standing just in honor of God's word as well. Around 60 AD to refute some false teachings that were really confusing and distorting the faith of some young believers living in a small town of Colossae, the Apostle Paul picked up his pen and he wrote these words. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He's a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

I'm sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He's coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here. My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends to you the greeting, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. You've received instructions about him.

If he comes to you, welcome him. Jesus, who's called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. Epaphras is one of you and a servant of Christ. Jesus sends greetings and he is also wrestling in prayer for you that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

I vouch for him that he's working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. Our dear friend Luke, the doctor and Dema send greetings. Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea and Nympha and the church in her house. After this letter has been read to you, see that it's also read in the church of Laodiceans. And that you in turn, read the letter from Laodicea.

Tell Archippus, see to it that you complete the ministry you've received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my change. Grace be to you. You may be seated.

Well, good morning, church.

You guys are less awake than 9 o' clock if we've not met. My name is Josh and I'm glad you're here. And if you are a guest with us today, maybe it's your first time, maybe it's your second or third time. Special greeting and welcome to you as well. If you'd like to connect with Whitewater at all beyond just coming to a service, we would love to connect with you and the best way you can do that is to go to the information desk out in the foyer after the service and just introduce yourself.

They can help you find your people, help you find a place to share your gifts here and answer any questions that you might have. So we hope that you'll take that step. I say this often here for new folks. You should know. Warning.

You walked into a room full of people who are are sinners and broken and haven't figured it all out yet. Amen. Amen. This is true. So if we're all gathered here today in community with other people who are just pursuing Jesus, that's what we're here for.

So if that sounds like you, we're glad that you're here. Yeah, you can clap for that. That's fine.

Today is week eight. It's our last Sunday in our eight week series running through the book of Colossians. And it's been a beautiful series. It's been a beautiful way for all of us to kind of stay in the Word together, gather together and be reading and studying through the same stuff. It's been really good.

And we've been walking through this incredible letter written by Paul to, as Jody said, a few young churches in the area of Colossae. And they're learning how to follow Jesus in a culture that's pulling them in every direction over and over. Paul lifts their eyes and, and he reminds them and us that Jesus isn't just part of our lives. Jesus is our lives. And those of us who are in Jesus, we don't just have identity with Him.

He is our identity. We are in him, he is in us. And we are sealed by the power and the seal of the Holy Spirit. Paul said in chapter one that the whole aim of all of his work, this is why he's in prison, this is why he's struggling. This is why he's praying.

This is why he's working. Is this. We proclaim him Jesus, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. That's Paul's aim, so that everyone can be presented fully mature in Christ. Christ at the center, us becoming more like Christ.

This is the theme of the book of Colossians and man. Paul says this is why he works so hard. So we've talked about what it means to walk in the Spirit, that our everyday lives, our regular practices, everywhere we go, are aimed at becoming more like Jesus. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, God continues to do the work of what's called sanctification. That's him making us more and more into the likeness of Jesus.

He's the one that keeps us rooted in him, strengthened in the faith as we were taught. And then our job is to overflow with thankfulness. We also said that his mercy and grace are new every morning. We need renewal every morning because we are sinners who haven't figured it all out yet and are just trying to pursue Jesus. We need constant renewal.

Paul warned us against the distractions. He warned us against spiritual counterfeits and legalism and holo philosophy that look good on the outside but have no ability to change our hearts from the inside out. He's called us to take off our old self, that old, dead self, to put it off and put to death the sin that so easily entangles us, holding us captive. If you were here a couple weeks ago to put to death the baby tiger in the guest room next door, right? And Paul has instructed us to allow Christ by the power of the Spirit, to reshape our homes, our marriages and our workplaces, to all of our relationships.

This is a whole new kind of household code that flips culture's code on its head. And now, as Paul closes this letter, he tells us what will be absolutely critical if we want anything that he's written about to become a reality in our lives and not just a pipe dream. He says this. Colossians 4:2. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

That word devote, it's a rich, powerful word. Other translations say continue steadfastly or continue without ceasing or be persistent. It speaks of relentless, focused devotion, a kind of steadfastness that doesn't give up when things don't happen yet, that doesn't give up when things get hard, that doesn't give up because we're distracted or because God is delaying Something. It is the same word that's actually used in the book of Acts as the church is beginning. And miraculous things are happening.

In Acts 1:14 when the disciples, just days after Jesus ascends to heaven, they're trying to name a new disciple since Judas is gone at this point. And they're trying to launch the global church. They don't even know what's about to happen. And so this is what they do. Acts 1:14.

They all join together constantly in prayer. That's that word, constantly. Constantly devoted in prayer, along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. And just about a week later, the Holy Spirit comes in tremendous power on the day of Pentecost, Tongues of fire, miracles. The Gospel proclaimed in every language of all the people represented there.

This is a huge miracle. Over 3,000 people come to faith and are baptized in one day. That's the power of prayer. That same word shows up in Acts 2:42 when we see what marked the earliest gatherings of the church. 2:42.

They devoted, that's the word themselves, to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles and what was the result of being dedicated to these things. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. That's the power of prayer. It's the same word used in Acts 6:4 when the church was growing like crazy.

And there's all these physical needs that need to be met by the apostles. The apostles realize they're spending way too much of their time meeting these physical needs. And they need to get back to what's most important. And this is what they do. They.

They appoint servant leaders among them to help meet these needs. And this is what they say in Acts 6:3. We will turn this responsibility over to them and we will give our attention that word devotion, steadfast persistence. We will give our devotion to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And what's the fruit of that?

Acts 6:7. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Paul is showing us prayer is not just this thing that gets tacked on to what we do. Prayer is not just an extra nice thing.

He's saying prayer is the access point. Prayer is the passcode to the power of a move of God. And if we want to see a move of the Spirit in our day, like we. Like they saw in their day, Then we got to be praying with this kind of power and devotion and steadfast persistence. It won't come through strategy and intelligence and systems and effort alone.

It will come through desperate, persistent, steadfast prayer. Church. When I say that I want this church to be a people of prayer, I don't mean that we just pray when we sit down for a meal or when life gets hard and we need the genie God to come and solve it for us. I'm saying I want us to be urgent and dependent and spirit filled with prayer warriors. The kind of prayer warriors that Paul is talking about.

The kind of prayer warriors that pray up the kinds of things that we see in the Book of Acts. The kind of prayer that shapes the church and a whole city for the kingdom. Because when God's people pray like that, when God's people pray like that church, impossible things become possible, miracles happen, and God shows up in a big way to do things way beyond our imagination. Paul urges us to devote ourselves to prayer because he knows that everything he shared could be a reality all through. The Book of Colossians cannot be a reality if we do not pray.

We cannot be who God's calling us to be as individuals, in our homes or as a church if we're not praying with this kind of devotion. I love this quote from E.M. bounds. He says the life, power and glory of the church is prayer. Without it, the church is lifeless and powerless. The neglect of prayer is the fearful sin of the church.

It is the hindrance to holiness, the obstacle to growth, the enemy of revival. The devil is not afraid of prayerless studies, prayerless work, or prayerless religion. But when the church prays, really prays, hell trembles. Heaven moves and history changes.

That's the kind of desperate, constant, unceasing prayer I want us to be practicing in our lives. I want this church to be marked by that kind of prayer. The kind of prayer that is a weapon against hell, that activates miracles, that brings heaven to earth, that fuels explosive kingdom growth. If you were here last September, then you might remember that we laid out our 36 month vision. This was what we said, the kind of church that we want to be over the next three years.

And we gave out prayer cards and we asked you to join in praying boldly for God to move in power in those key areas. And since then we've been praying. We've been praying for a deep hunger and a longing for the future that God has in mind for Whitewater. And God has been answering. God's been answering.

He stirred up elders and staff and church body with this growing hunger for the word, this growing hunger for prayer, this growing hunger for discipleship and evangelism. We've prayed for protection and unity and restoration for our leaders and our volunteers and our families in the church body. And God has provided in powerful ways. He keeps bringing healing and growth and reconciliation, alignment with the Spirit. We've been praying for God to supply every person and dollar and resource and opportunity and relationship needed to accomplish everything that he's calling us to be and do.

And God has shown up in huge ways. Our church has grown by 18% over the end of last year's year to date average weekly attendance. We've grown 18% in the last six months.

I shared this last week. He has blessed us this year at the end of our fiscal year budget in June with a $230,000 surplus. That's incredible. And I mentioned last week, this money is going to allow us to take care of some long overdue maintenance and repair things here in our facility. It's going to allow us to expand our local and global impact.

It's going to allow us to pay extra principal on our loan which will get us closer to our long term goal of being completely debt free. Now, not even included in that number is our Christmas offering that you all gave so generously so that by the time we reach next Christmas, $110,000 will be given away locally and globally outside of these walls. That's incredible. And don't miss this. Also not included in this number.

A very generous individual who does not even attend church here has heard about what's going on here, has heard about our heart for Local Impact, and they wrote a $75,000 check for our church's engagement with Local Impact. I can't do that. Church. I can't do that. I can't wear a nice shirt.

That's enough to do that. I can't tell funny enough jokes. I can't come up with a better sermon that brings someone who doesn't even come to church here to say, I want to be a part of what you're doing. So much so that I'm going to invest at that level. Prayer is doing the work church.

We've been praying for the lost in our community and for evangelistic hearts and our people to grow. We've prayed specifically for our neighbors next door in Westbrook Village in Miami View Estates. We've been praying because we have since the beginning of this location, we have believed that God placed us between these two communities with a Great purpose. And now we're seeing fruit. Recently, a Friday night prayer and worship gathering has been growing in Westbrook Village.

We got a group of guys that have started working together to help repair cars in the community. Faith conversations are happening. People are getting baptized. And recently. This is crazy.

This is crazy. A young man from Miami View Estates who has never stepped foot in this place. He's been watching online because we're here. He works on Sunday mornings, and so he can't attend church. And he sent us a message letting us know that God has been drawing him in and he wants to get baptized.

He couldn't be here on baptism Sunday. And he asked us, can I come during the week and be baptized? And our answer was, heck, yes, we can baptize you. And that's exactly what we did. And he came here saying, I have never had real community and love in my life.

And our staff laid hands on him and we wept together and we prayed over him and we baptized him right here. And then he immediately stepped. Stepped into a discipling relationship with one of our staff. Church. We can't do that.

We can't do that. The Holy Spirit is the one who is drawing him in. It's a beautiful answering of these prayers that we've been praying. God is answering our prayers. This is not the fruit of our intelligence.

This is not the fruit of our great systems. It's not the fruit of our genius tactics or our incredible staff. This is the fruit of prayer. This is the fruit of prayer. Church.

We can't make this stuff happen. And church, this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning of what God is doing here. These are just a few of the stories rising up because we are becoming a praying people. Imagine what God might do if all of us in this room are all of us watching and listening online.

If all of us join together in the unity of prayer, praying for God to do miraculous and powerful things here. I'm calling us out as a church to become obedient to Paul's words and believe firmly that if we are, we will see even greater things than this happen in and through and among. And so today we have a new prayer card. It's out on the tables on your way out. And I'm asking you to grab one.

If you got one from before, grab a new one. If you never got one before or if you lost it, grab a new one. And I am asking you to pray these prayers with us. Will you please join us? Because we are desperate for the power of the Holy Spirit to Do what we cannot do.

Will you join us in doing that? Let's be the people of prayer that Paul is calling us to. That I am calling us to now. Let's join in. We want to be a people of prayer because another thing that EM Bounds says, he says prayer moves the machinery of heaven.

I hope you'll join us. All right, we made it through one verse.

Just 16 to go. So go ahead and cancel your reservations. I'm just kidding. Let's pick up. I'm not kidding.

We do have 16 to go. Let's pick up in verse three. This is where Paul asks for the churches at Colossae to pray for him. This is interesting. Verse 3.

And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. This is huge. This is huge. Think about this.

I think very often we think about prayer as this mysterious thing that we kind of throw at the ceiling. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. We don't know what it does. We don't know what it doesn't do. We don't know how it works.

But Paul is pulling back the curtain to reveal something to us indirectly about what prayer does. The fact that Paul, the greatest Christian missionary that's probably ever lived, the guy that wrote half the books in the New Testament, is asking these people, and us encouraging believers to be praying for him and praying for people like him, is because he understands something about prayer that we need to understand. 2. It tells us about prayer, how prayer works, what it does. Paul believes that without prayer, opportunities to share the gospel with others will remain inaccessible and closed.

That's what he's telling us indirectly here. If we don't pray, if they don't pray, opportunities to share the gospel will remain closed. And he is asking them through prayer because he believes that through prayer, spiritual war is being waged against these closed doors and they are opened. We talked about this idea a few weeks ago about how we need to be praying that God would give us opportunities to share the gospel. And as we're praying, we have to have our heads up, paying attention, looking for open doors and humble and obedient enough to step in when.

When those doors are open. And we also need to be praying, like Paul says, that God would give us the ability to proclaim the gospel clearly in Ephesians, he says, and pray for me also, that I would be bold to proclaim the gospel as I should. He's praying for boldness. This is Paul. If we should be praying for him, if the Colossians should be praying for him, surely we should be praying for each other this way.

Then he says in verse 5, be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. See, Paul's calling is to live thoughtfully and carefully among our non believing neighbors, friends, family, coworkers. Not recklessly, not abrasively, not obnoxiously, but, but with wisdom.

Why? Because many people, for many people, your life is the very first sermon that they will ever hear. They're watching us. And the way that we interact, the way that we have morals and ethics in the workplace, the way that we speak to our spouse when they're on the phone with us, the way that we discipline our children, the way that we care for what's in our care, the way that we deal with conflict in the workplace, the way that we deal with difficult relationships, all of that is preaching a gospel to them long before they ever hear the gospel of Jesus. The way you carry yourself and treat others all speaks volumes about who Christ is.

And when Paul says, make the most of every opportunity, literally it is making the most of the exact appointed time. See, there are two words for time in Greek. There's chronos, which is chronological clock time, and then there's kairos, which is a specific appointed time, a critical moment. This is why we have to keep our heads up, paying attention for the moment that when God opens that door, and Paul is suggesting clearly in this language that's appointed, very specific, very powerful moment, if we don't step in, then the door will close again. This is what he's calling us to.

Keep your heads up, be paying attention, so that when those doors open, we can step into the, into them.

And then when we do, and we share the gospel in these moments, Paul says that we should do so with words full of grace, full of grace and seasoned with salt. See, the gospel leads with grace. It doesn't end with grace. It is not only grace, but the gospel leads with grace, not shame, not, not hate, not anger, not arguing, not fear mongering. Grace, grace and salt enhances flavor.

So when people hear the gospel from us, it should be shared in a way that leads with grace and is an appetizing reality to them. Now the Bible also says the gospel is very offensive because it starts out with, you're a scumbag loser who deserves death but Jesus. And so don't be surprised when people get upset by that, because no one wants to be a scumbag loser that deserves death. So the gospel is offensive. However, when we share the gospel, we do it with grace and we do it in a way that's appetizing, so that when people get a taste of it, they want more spiritual hunger.

It's not about being slick. It's not about being salesy. It's not about having the perfect answer to all the theological questions. It's about being real. It's about being spirit led.

It's about being intentional with every moment God gives us. And so how do we do this? The very simplest way that we can do this is by knowing what Christ has done in us first. If you don't know what being in Christ and Christ in you has done for you, if you don't have an old dead self, you have nothing to share of the gospel. So that's our first step, is to know what Christ in us has done for us and just simply sharing that story with others.

So pray. Pray for God to open doors. Keep your heads up looking for open doors. Those exact appointed moments. Even as I walk out into the hallway here on Sunday morning, I am praying and asking God, who do you want me to talk to today?

What do you want me to step into today? And we might notice it in a person who needs a little extra care. In a person, a young mom who is feeding a baby in the middle of the night and then going to work and she's exhausted. It might look like some physical needs that need to be met. It might look like someone who has tears in their eyes or someone who's frustrated, out of their mind.

And we have a moment to step into that and inject Christ there. Pray for open doors. Prayer does the heavy lifting. Prayer provides the opportunity. Prayer provides the words.

Prayer does the work. Prayer is the fuel for the kingdom. Let's keep moving. Now, at first glance, when we read through verses 7 through 18, it just kind of looks like this closing obligatory section that just drops a bunch of names. And we don't know why it's here.

Like there's nothing of spiritual value there. But there's so much more happening. See, behind each name is a story, a reminder that God carries out his mission not through superstars, but through very normal, everyday people. And remember, we are only 30 years post Jesus resurrection. The church is such a baby organization.

Everyone who has come to faith at this point is required for the church to continue to Grow. We won't read this whole section, But Paul mentions 11 individuals, 11 people, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, those who are slaves and those who are free. And this list just exemplifies what we talked about last week, that no matter your economic status, your gender, your race, your background, everyone has a place in the kingdom model.

This is more than a closing because all of these people carry a backstory, a relationship, their own transformation story. They carry sacrifice and commitment to the spread of the Gospel. It's a glimpse into the living network of the first century church. And it is a picture, an example of what we are to be as well. This gathering of normal, everyday people whose lives have been changed by the Gospel and who want to change other people's lives with the Gospel.

Tychicus is the first guy mentioned. He's the one that's carrying this letter to these churches from Rome to Colossae. He's also known to have been the one who carried the letter to the church at Ephesus, the book of Ephesians that we read in our Bible. And he took some letters to a guy named Philemon and to the church at Laodicea. Tychicus was a well trusted friend of Paul and he even went with Paul on his missionary journeys.

Next, Paul mentions Onesimus and Aristarchus. Onesimus has a really interesting backstory. He is a slave, but he's a runaway slave. And his master, a guy named Philemon, that the book of Philemon was written to Paul's letter to Philemon. And Paul writes this letter to Philemon encouraging Philemon to take Onesimus back and for Onesimus to go to him not as a slave master relationship, but now brothers in Christ.

This beautiful picture of what it looks like for someone to be dead and small and meaningless and now have a place in, in the kingdom. Aristarchus, Paul calls him my fellow prisoner in chains. He was thrown in jail as well. He was a trusted friend of Paul. He was an early, very early convert to Christianity and he accompanied Paul to Rome.

And then we read in Acts 19 that he was seized by an angry mob and beaten in the city of Ephesus. And this just shows us that the kind of faithfulness through thick and thin that Aristarchus has with Paul and to Paul. And then Paul mentions a few really big names and a few names that we have no idea who they are or anything about them at all. The big names are Mark and Luke. You've heard of these guys, Mark and Luke, like the Mark and Luke, the guys attributed with Writing the book of Mark and the book of Luke in the Bible.

And then we get some names of people we don't know anything about. We know very little about Jesus, who's called Justus, Demas and Archippus. Their names are just here. They're just known to be fellow laborers with Paul. All we know about this woman Nympha is that she has started a church in her home in Laodicea.

And as a woman, that's a big deal. She has a place, a valuable place in the kingdom of starting a church in her home. And all of these people are people who have given their lives to the work of spreading the gospel. Think about this. We literally have them to think that we are here today in Cleves, Ohio, proclaiming the gospel, talking about them.

You think they had any clue that we'd be talking about them? Of course not. They thought they were just normal guys sitting in the seat. A normal lady sitting in the seat. This runaway slave that felt guilty every day of his life and thought he was nobody.

He didn't know he'd be mentioned in this book that we'd be reading all these years later. Then there's the final name that Paul mentions. Epaphras. We've talked about Epaphras throughout this series. Epaphras is the guy who started the church, or the church is in Colossae.

Not Paul, not Barnabas, not Luke, not Mark. Epaphras. Epaphras. And this is so significant because Epaphras is the first. He's a non Jew convert to Christianity from Colossae who seems to have taken it upon himself to start these churches.

And he represents the very beginning, the first person that we see that is second generation discipleship. Up to this point in Scripture, we've seen lots of first generation discipleship. The disciples discipling someone and they become a disciple. But this, to my knowledge, is the first of the second generation disciple who has become a disciple and has now taken on the responsibility of fulfilling this great commission and actually going to make disciples.

Paul's writing this letter to a church full of Christians he has never met, and yet he is their spiritual grandfather. That's beautiful. And as great as Paul might have been, he could have never had this opportunity without a guy like Epaphras, without a plain old normal guy that showed up, heard Paul's words, his life was changed by it. He went home and he was so compelled by what he heard that he had to share it with others. And as we close out this book, as we close out this series now we are the ones who have been handed the torch of the Gospel to carry into our homes and our workplaces, our schools, our friendships, the grocery store, the library, wherever we go, every normal people doing everyday normal things, carrying with us the Gospel.

And we will either be remembered in church history as a generation that passed and fanned the flame, or we'll just disappear as a gap in church history. There are millions who have and we can join them or we can be like Epaphras and we can become a spiritual parent that one day when we get to heaven we will meet our spiritual great grandchildren that we never knew existed. How beautiful would that be? We have one mission in this life. Go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that Christ has commanded us.

The way we say it is. We want to make more and better disciples both here and not here. That's everywhere by the way. So here's the challenge. Here's the challenge as we wrap up this series and this message today.

Pray, pray. Grab a prayer card on your way out. Join us in praying like we have never prayed for before. For boldness, for opportunities for the Spirit to move in incredible ways well beyond anything that we could do on our own. Because if we just do what we can do in our own strength and our own intelligence and our own abilities, we will never break through this very low ceiling church.

We will do nothing that actually matters for the kingdom. We could have gotten to the end of this generation, showed up to church, prayed some fake cheap prayers, sang some nice songs, patted ourselves on the back, maybe even done some nice things for the community, but never passed on the flame of the gospel. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to open doors and to proclaim the gospel through our obedience in our mouths or we will do nothing of eternal value. May we not be a generation that is just lights out disappears, didn't matter. So pray.

Pray that the ceiling will be broken through and that we it's time that we just boldly walk in his power and pray for his power to come. So please join us in praying. 2. Pay attention. Pay attention.

Eyes up, looking for the moment that the door cracks open, this appointed moment in time. What would it look like if you walked into the workplace and into the grocery store and into this world to keep your head up and pay attention and ask God who, not God, if there happens to maybe be someone that might want to hear about Jesus? No God. Who do you want me to connect with today? Who expect that he'll answer the prayer and step into the moment.

Keep your heads up, be obedient, ask him to open the door. And when he does, step in, I want to close with these words from Paul, from chapter one, his prayer for them, my prayer for us. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. This can be our reality.

This is not a pipe dream. It's not something that we have to wait until we're dead and in heaven to experience. This is Paul's desperate, constant prayer for real people, normal people in their jobs, in their workplaces, in their homes, in their relationships, in their everyday activities. And this can be a reality for us. It can be a reality for us.

It is only a reality for us because of the cross, because of what Christ has done for us. That is the bridge that fills the gap between where we are and where Christ wants us to be. We cannot live this kind of life, a Colossians kind of life in Christ, Christ in us, us, fully expressing the power of the Holy Spirit through our daily decisions and lives. We cannot live like this without prayer.