First Presbyterian
Church of Inglewood
100 North Hillcrest Ave
Inglewood, California
90301
Telephone numbers: (310) 677-5133 Fax (310) 330-8342
Electronic mail: PRESBYTS@SBCGLOBAL.NET
Sunday, November 8,
2009
Rev. Dr. Harold E. Kidd
Colossians 4: 1 - 6
YOU CAN PRAY YOUR WAY
THROUGH
“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.” Colossians 4: 2- 4
May the Lord bless our understanding
of these words. When we consider the life of the apostle Paul, his was a
complete life. Preaching the Gospel of
Jesus had taken him all over the ancient world of his time. He had been
personal witness to the power of God in demonstration of the Holy Spirit,
working miracles of healing, and deliverance; bringing many non-believers to
faith in Christ.
The Holy Spirit working through his labor
of witness and his traveling companions, had birthed many infant congregations
across the world of the Gentiles. Paul himself a learned man, a Jew by birth, a
Roman Citizen, and astute scholar, was well acquainted with Judaism, its laws
and customs. 60% of what is contained
within the New Testament in letters to the churches is attributed to Paul’s
writings.
Yet in spite of all his background,
education, wisdom born of experience and rugged determination, in spite of his
many letters, that he could speak in tongues, had seen visions of heaven; that
he had seen the risen Savior with his own eyes on that Damascus road many years
ago, Paul recognized the sincere need for prayer to undergird the ministry, if their
ministry for Jesus was to have any effect.
He asks of the believers in Colosse, “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.” Even while Paul’s
labors for the church were without equal, he recognized that no amount of hard
work, ability or intellect alone, could fulfill the will of Jesus without the
power of prayer. So Paul was a sincere steward of pray. Amen.
He prayed often for the churches God
led him in establishing, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, when we pray for you.” He writes in chapter one, of this letter, and
“We have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the
knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we
pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may 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 joyfully giving thanks to the
father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the
kingdom of light. .” (vss. 3 – 12)
If prayer does all of that, surely
the prayer life of any church ought to be a priority. But not only does Paul
pray regularly for the churches, we read in several letters, Paul’s personal
appeal to the churches asking for their prayers for him, that this ministry of
Christ, might be effectual; ”And pray for us too..”
In his letter to the Ephesians,
chapter 6..”Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given
me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I
am an ambassador in chains.” Who would ever believe that a ministry could
thrive from a prison cell, that from a dungeon, the words about Jesus could
travel from city to city? But because the church was praying for this ministry,
God did the impossible.
When he wrote Colossians, about AD60,
Paul was in a Roman prison where he would spend the rest of his life, and as
Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie said a week ago in his sermon, at St. Mark’s Church, “Paul
was wearing them out, these Roman soldiers. Because every time they put a new
soldier to guard over Paul, they got converted.” He was confined to a cell, but
because of the prayers of the church, God used the power of the pen, to bring
many to Jesus. Yes, “Pray for me, too, that God may open a door for our
message.”
In the fullness of his years, God
allowed Paul to experience it all. Amen.
He writes to the Corinthian church in defense of his ministry, “But we
have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is
from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on very side, but not crushed;
perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but
not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that
the life of Jesus may be also revealed in our body.”
Paul wanted others to now that he had
suffered for Jesus. He wanted others to know that if it had not been for the
Lord on His side, he never would have made it. He wanted others to know that he
was kept through the prayers of others. He wanted others to know that this
ministry of the Lord was progressing because of a praying church.
Too many issues for the church to
resolve by itself., Too many powers and principalities seeking to block and
circumvent the purposes of God, for the people of God to handle all by
themselves ,they prayed mightily for God to intervene. When Peter was locked in
prison, the church went into an all night prayer meeting.
These were not just “now I lay me down to
sleep kind of prayers.” But prayer was
lifted up continually for this ministry. I wish I knew how to make it plain. “Pray
for us,” he asks them, “That God may open a door for our message..” They prayed
until they got a breakthrough. They prayed until a door was opened. They prayed
until a heart was changed. They prayed until a conversion was experienced. They
prayed until a deliverance was manifest.
They prayed until yokes were broken.
They prayed until a healing was complete. They prayed until a reconciliation
was restored. They prayed for this ministry. They prayed that the message would
not return unto the Lord void. They prayed for fire in the pulpit, and they
prayed for fire in the pew. They prayed until a fresh annointing
fell. They prayed for the finances of the churches in Macedonian, and God did
send them a rich love offering to underwrite the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Because prayer was given, they gave as much as they were able and beyond their
ability.
So when Paul asks the believers of Colosse to pray for them, he has experienced in his own
life the power of a praying church. “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.” Much
of what God did through the apostles and the early church was accomplished
because the church prayed without ceasing. They prayed until they got a
breakthrough.
Thank God this morning for the
prayers of First
“Devote yourselves to prayer”; Paul
asks, “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message.” Well,
we need some doors opened this morning. We need God to open a door to City
Planning and Public works that will deliver us this second parking lot. We’re
asking God to get the word out through everyone’s witness about this ministry
here at First
“Pray that God may open a door for
our message.” God is the one who touches hearts with our message of Jesus. God
is the one who can turn a deaf dear into a listening ear. God is the one who
can give us favor with institutions and people in high places so that our labor
bears fruit for Christ.
Yes,” Pray that God may open a door
for our message.” You see, Paul recognized what we also come to experience,
that building a life, building a church, building the Kingdom of God, has more
to do with God helping us than it does with us helping ourselves. We can’t turn
our life around without the help of God. We can’t change attitudes and value
systems of people without God transforming a person’s heart. We can’t make the
crocked places in this world straight without God. We can’t make anyone receive
the message of Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul without God.
“For by grace are we saved through
faith and this not of ourselves, it is the gift of God lest anyone should
boast.” “Unless the Lord builds the house they who labor, labor in vain.” “Some
plant, others water but God is the one who gives the increase.” “And the Lord
added to their number those who were being saved.”
Paul recognized that God is the one
who opens the doors for this ministry to go forward and not backward. And any
church that is sincerely praying for its ministry is inviting God to bless and
make manifest, what we cannot do by ourselves. We need God.
Yes, “Pray that God….that God…that
God…. may open a door for our message.”