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Foundations: Colossians 4

When every system around you feels broken and out of reach, what hope is there for change? Colossians 4 faces the tension between the struggle for personal and cultural transformation and the ultimate sufficiency of Christ.

Pastor Jonathan draws from Paul’s heartfelt conclusion, urging the church to let Christ’s supremacy reshape not just doctrine but every relationship, conversation, and moment of hardship. Instead of quick fixes or legalistic demands, the letter calls for sustained prayer, unity in love, and grace-filled engagement with the world—even in structures we cannot control. Lasting change begins with transformed hearts, not just changed systems.

Key Insights

  • Spiritual maturity in adversity: Growth is measured by holding to Christ’s sufficiency and letting love define our unity, not by external achievements.
  • Navigating broken systems: Paul’s counsel to slaves and masters shows Scripture’s descriptive wisdom in acknowledging harsh realities while subverting them through kingdom relationships.
  • Prayer as wrestling, not ritual: Real intercession means striving for one another’s perseverance, guarding the community against drifting away from Christ.

Scriptures Referenced

  • Colossians 4; Colossians 3:18-4:9 (NIV); 1 Corinthians 13; Philemon; 1 Timothy 1:9; 2 Timothy 4:9-10

https://springhousemidweek.captivate.fm/episode/foundations-colossians-4

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Transcript
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You are holy, God.

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Father, we have gathered tonight to

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hear your word and to be transformed by it. Thank

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you. Would you help us, Lord, to be a

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fellowship of believers that are Yes. Known by our

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love for you, known by our love for others,

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known for holding fast

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to the truth of your supremacy and sufficiency,

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God. A church that finds our satisfaction in

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you. Would you help us to be a

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fellowship that's increasingly

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devoted in prayer,

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And working towards a preparation and being ready for every opportunity

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to share the gospel that you have in

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store for us. In Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen. Thank you, Worship

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team. Please welcome Pastor

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Jonathan. There's no— we got

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you, brother. We're

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listening. Yeah, loop it,

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loop it. Give me some time. I

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got it. Okay.

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Good evening, everybody. Thank you for being here. I have the honor of

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closing out chapter 4 and the final chapter of

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the letter to the Colossians. Now, Paul

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spends 11 of the 18 verses

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in chapter 4 Just giving shoutouts,

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okay, to his co-laborers in the kingdom. So I'm gonna take some

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cues from Paul there, and I wanna say thank you to Chris Yeager,

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thank you to Pastor Ronnie, and thank you to Pastor Wayne for

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leading us through this letter. I hope you all will join

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us next week. We're gonna start going through Ephesians. We got the same

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great teachers. What? I hope. Oh yeah. Okay. Ephesians?

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Yeah, yeah. Did you know that?

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Same great teachers and more, more surprises.

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So because the contents of this

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chapter are so short, I thought it might be helpful to

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start with a bit of a recap of the letter to the Colossians,

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because it's just kind of helpful for me to kind of frame everything in its

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proper context there. So Paul

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was imprisoned in Rome at the time this letter was written.

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We remember that Paul did not start this church and he

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had never visited visited this church in person. He was sought

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out by Epaphras, who was, I, I believe, the

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leader that started the church in Colossae, who needed Paul's

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wisdom to address some issues,

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some theological heresies and different things like that. So

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this is the thing, he traveled over 1,000 miles,

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almost 1,500 miles, to get to Paul, like, I need your help for real.

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So the heresies here were a mix of Jewish legalism regarding

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circumcision, which we remember through our study of

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Galatians, that was something that they were struggling with, asceticism,

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which is an extreme self-discipline that often takes the form

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of poverty or fasting in an extreme way. So it's kind of like this

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external, everybody look at me, I'm holier than thou.

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Experienced in them and heard about them. So this is Colossians

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2:5. Uh, no, it's

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not. There we go. Thank you.

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For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in

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spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and

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how firm your faith in Christ is. That's

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mind-blowing. So here's the other thing. As much as

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Paul didn't write them off for what they were struggling with in their spiritual

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immaturity, He also didn't let them off the hook

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for the expectation to see growth spiritually in their

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life. According to chapter 1, Paul

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and Epaphras prayed for them daily and had a mission. Here's the mission. This is

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verses 28 through 29. He, Jesus, is

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the one we proclaim, admonishing, which is correcting, but

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it's also like finger waving like this, like, and

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teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone

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fully mature in Christ. So there's a goal. there. To

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this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy

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Christ so powerfully works in me. So part of their mission

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was spiritual maturity, for sure. They committed to that mission

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through strenuous and patient prayer and

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discipleship. And their goal was not, hey, we got to get a

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megachurch out of this. Their goal was not, uh, you

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guys are making us look bad. Their goal was I love

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God and I love my brothers and sisters in Christ,

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and I want to help and be helpful. So this

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speaks, I think, to Pastor Ronnie's mention of being

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united or stitched together in love, which

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that verse, it's agape love, which is defined in 1

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Corinthians 13. So Pastor Ronnie, what was the word that you said it is

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underrated, but what was the— Foolishly. Foolishly

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underrated. So when a teacher

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says that, I go, whoa, I need to

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pay attention. And then the next week I've got Pastor Wayne saying,

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maybe you should go define it. So I'm like, I'm really paying attention now.

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So you guys should go home and like read the scriptures for

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yourself and, and just find out, like, check us out, validate us, but,

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or whatever that is. Don't validate us. That's not what I'm saying. See if we're

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right or wrong, whatever it is, but study it for yourselves. But I thought, okay,

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it's, it's extremely underrated. Let me look I want to look into this because I

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want to make sure— foolishly underrated. Yes. Amen. 1

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Corinthians 13. Love

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is patient. Love is kind, does not envy. It does not

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boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is

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not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no

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record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices

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with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always

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hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

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So I see Paul uniting himself with these believers in this

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very practical and committed way. So I'm just going to write that out like,

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okay guys, we are united together now in

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patience. We're united in kindness. We're

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united in humility, selflessness, forgiveness,

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united together in our refusal to delight in evil,

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united together in our pursuit of rejoicing with the truth. That's the

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path. When Pastor Wayne said, He's talking to people in

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Christ, but we got work to do. That's the in Christ.

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Uh, that is the, that is the, um, what am I trying to say?

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We got work to do part of united in love right there. There we go.

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Uh, united in protecting, united in trust, united in hope,

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united in perseverance. So this letter is

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love and discipleship in action. Paul is rejoicing

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simultaneously, rejoicing over genuine fruit that he

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sees in their life. And also willing to

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confront genuine immaturity and help

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grow them in that, not condemn them, grow them. So Paul is

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like, yeah, you got issues, I got issues, what's new in the church,

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you know? And we're gonna work, we're gonna take this opportunity to work on

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these things together. So Paul

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refocuses their hearts and minds to the answer

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to all of their issues. And before I get to the answer that Paul

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points them to, let me share a story about what is not the answer

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that we often point people to. So I believe it was Pastor Will who

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showed me a comedy sketch from MADtv,

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2001, featuring Bob Newhart as

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a— His well runs deep.

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And he was playing a therapist, and a woman walks in

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to get help. And he goes, well, let me tell you about our billing rate

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first. It's $5 for the first 5 minutes, and it's absolutely

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free after that. And she just can't believe it. Like, this is

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incredible. And he goes, well, it's, you know, none of my sessions

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really last past 5 minutes, so no worries. So, you know, tell

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me what you got going on. And she says, I'm, I am afraid

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of being buried alive. And, you know, it's causing me all kinds of

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problems. Anytime I'm in something that feels like a box, I'm all

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just messed up, including my house. And he goes, Okay, um,

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has anyone ever tried to bury you alive before? And she says, no.

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And he said, okay, um, I think I've got an answer that's gonna help

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you. Um, it's just 2 words, and I

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want you to listen to 'em very carefully and work to apply them in your

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life every single day. And she goes, well, can I write 'em down? And he

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said, it's fine. You know, it's 2 words, so it's not that hard to remember.

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Stop it. Stop it.

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Thankfully, that is not how Paul models

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discipleship in these passages that we've been studying.

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He didn't tell them just stop it. You know, he knows it's not what's best

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for them, but instead he refocused their attention and hearts

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on the supremacy, sufficiency, and satisfaction

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that is in Christ Jesus. They refocus their hearts and

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minds on Christ Jesus himself. So I'm going to borrow

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a Pastor Ronnie-ism, which I was thinking, I'm so proud of you because I haven't

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heard this in a long time. When you get right down to it,

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so many of the issues facing the church then and now come

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from the same root problem. Somewhere along the way,

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we have stopped believing that Christ is supreme, sufficient,

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and all-satisfying. When you think about it,

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you break down these issues— legalism, asceticism, angel worship— they're all

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saying we need Christ plus something else.

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That's the kingdom. Similar sin

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are things that we say we're going to be more satisfied in this

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than what satisfaction you can give us. So the arc

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of the letter to the Colossians in my mind is really

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that call to remember and take hold of the

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supremacy, sufficiency, and satisfaction of Christ.

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and how truly holding that will shape our lives. So with that

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in mind, let's continue our reading where we left off from last

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week. Um, this is gonna be Colossians 3, uh,

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starting in verse 18, and I'll put it up here.

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Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord.

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Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

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Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. That is getting

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used in our house. But

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not this next part. Fathers, do not embitter your children or they will

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become discouraged. Like that, I'm sure it means more than

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this, but you know, like what I like to do is right when they're about

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to go to sleep, I like to start wrestling with them and get them all

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hyped up and everything. Slaves, obey your earthly

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masters in everything and do it not only when their

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eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with

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sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you

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do, work at it with all your heart as working for the

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Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will

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receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is

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the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong

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will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

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Masters— I'm sorry, let me go back. Am I there? Okay. Masters,

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provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know

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that you Also have a master in heaven. Oh, chapter

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3 was instruction for how the supremacy of Christ

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in our hearts and minds will bear fruit in our personal lives.

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So I used to walk like this, now I walk like this. I used to

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conduct myself like this, now it's like this. I used to talk like this, now

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I talk like this. Now he, Paul, is sharing the

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reality that the supremacy of Christ must bear fruit

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outside of the 4 walls of this church.

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It must bear fruit in our homes, in our families, in our workplaces,

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and in our difficult, unexplainable,

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uncontrollable circumstances. So

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what I find most fascinating about this section is how Paul

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addresses slaves and masters. The reason, um,

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I'll get into it here. One of the reasons we avoid this, I think,

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overall in our culture is because it just, it's not in our cultural

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context. So it's like, well, let's just, let's Let's move on. Or

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it makes us really uncomfortable, like it's a, it's a hard topic to deal with.

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But I'm going to attempt to talk about it in a way that I

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hope is helpful. Might dig myself in a hole, I don't know. But

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I think that there are principles and precepts in scripture

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that help even when it's this way, help us in our current

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situations and maybe future situations. So the question I

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had when he brought that up Is why didn't he just say

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slavery is evil, be done with it?

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Anybody else? Different type of slavery than we're

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familiar with and very uncomfortable.

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Well, come on up here and you teach on this.

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That's great. Well, the

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first thing I want to say is this. I'm taking ...of the

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letter into consideration. Paul's intent with the

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letter is instructing believers how to live as

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Christ followers in difficult and

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ever-changing social constructs and circumstances. Yeah.

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Paul's intent is to instruct us how to live

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in difficult circumstances, issues that come and go,

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social constructs So this has been helpful for me. There is a

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difference in the Bible between what we call descriptive and prescriptive.

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So descriptive is simply news reporting.

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I'm reporting the news to you. So it's, uh, reporting the

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news is not the same thing as sanctioning what's happening

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on the news. Right. So when the Bible is talking about Solomon and all his

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wives, it's not sanctioning polygamy.

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Makes sense. It's not prescribing that.

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So Paul isn't sanctioning slavery.

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He is prescribing a way for Christ followers to live

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within the difficult circumstances of it. However,

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that also doesn't mean that Paul never expresses how he feels about

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slavery in scripture. In 1 Timothy 1:9, he actually says

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slave trading is lawless and contrary to sound

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doctrine. So we have to take the full counsel there. But this is the reality:

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voting away slavery was not a possibility

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for these people. It just wasn't a reality.

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This was the reality that they had to live with and contend with

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in their culture. So look at verse 9 of

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chapter 4. He is coming

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with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you.

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They will tell you everything that is happening here. So Onesimus,

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to Paul there, he's considering him a faithful and dear brother. What

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is interesting is Onesimus is also a slave

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of— what? A runaway slave. A runaway

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slave. Thank you. That's going to add some punch later on, uh,

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to, uh, Philemon. So Paul

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also wrote a letter to Philemon at the same time as

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Colossians, and Philemon was from this church in

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Colossae. So this is what he says to him.

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Uh, Philemon, you don't have to turn there. I'll just read it. That I appeal

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to you for my, my son Onesimus, who became my

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son while I was in chains. So he was a runaway slave and he encountered

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Paul and encountered Christ. Formerly he was useless to you,

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but now he has become useful to you and to me.

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I am sending him who is my very heart back to you. I

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would have liked to keep him with me. This is passive, I think. I

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would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place

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in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel.

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But I did not want to do anything without your consent so that any

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favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary.

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Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you

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might have him back forever. no longer as a

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slave, but better than a slave, as a dear

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brother. He is a very— he is very dear

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to me, but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a

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brother in the Lord. So Paul is making it clear

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when he returns to you,

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he is returning to you as a brother in Christ.

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Whatever— This doesn't change what Roman society

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labels him as,. It doesn't change his status per

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se, but that category, that definition of slave

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between these 2 men can no longer define their

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relationship. So in a way, Paul's primary concern

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is not to reform corrupt and evil systems of the

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world. His primary concern is for the hearts to be

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reconciled to God. And transformed. Paul's

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primary concern is not reform of the corrupt and

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evil systems of the world. His primary concern is

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for the hearts to be reconciled to God and

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transformed. And those transformed hearts, what

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we're seeing here, citizens of the kingdom of God,

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will inevitably turn those corrupt systems

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inside out and make them recognizable when

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they're within them. So if our

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goal is to fix corrupt systems and not

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help heal corrupt hearts, then those systems

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will just find their way back to corruption. They won't be

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helped or healed or fixed at all. That is the difference between

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saying stop it and let me show you a

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better way. Yeah.

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And I do want to be clear on this.

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You know, they say there's— in preaching or teaching, there's the

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sermon that you want to teach,

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there's the sermon you thought you taught, and the one that everyone heard you teach.

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That's scary, except

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for the fact that Pastor Ronnie has said before that he literally felt like the

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Holy Spirit took whatever words came out of his mouth and

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somebody came up to him and said, that was amazing you said that. And he's

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like, I didn't say that. It's not in my notes. So I'm hoping that happens.

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Just because Paul does not have the influence to change worldly

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systems and structures, he certainly does have concern and

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influence when it comes to church systems and

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governance and leadership and things like that. So I just want to make that distinction

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because those exist in scripture. And, um,

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I hope I explained that well. If you have any questions, Pastor Ronnie is

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here. Pastor Wayne is over there at the end of service. The

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next challenge to cover, I think, is to go, it's one thing

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to say yes and amen to all that. It's an entirely other

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thing to actually walk through it. So those people who are not

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slaves and not masters at the time, they're looking at that going, oh, that's great,

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that's easy. But, uh, Onesimus,

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like, he actually has to walk this out. And I wonder if, like, Paul warned

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him ahead of time, like, this is in the letter, you know, or if he

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read it in real time. So it's an entirely different thing to

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walk through and be sustained in circumstances like that, which brings

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us to Paul's next instruction. Pray.

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We need to pray for each other.

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2-3. Devote

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yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

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Pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message so that

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we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains.

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Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should.

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So Paul is putting his faith in the power of

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prayer on full display right there. Paul

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is in chains and he's behind bars, and he's

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praying or asking the Colossians to pray that doors be opened to

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share the gospel in his circumstance. That's okay.

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He's, he's taking his own prescription right here. He's not

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asking them to pray that doors open to change his

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circumstance.

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Very good.

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He's asking them to

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pray that doors be open so he can share the gospel in

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his circumstance. He

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believes that prayer can help sustain him in his circumstances

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and also create opportunity for the power of the gospel

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to be on display and change lives. In verses 12

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and 13, Paul goes on to describe this devotion

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to prayer as wrestling and

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work. So

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Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends

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greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you

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that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and

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fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working

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hard for you. He always wrestles

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for you. He is working hard for you. And like,

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this is what I had to ask myself. I pray

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pretty frequently, but when is the last time when I prayed I felt

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like I just got out of a wrestling match with, I

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don't know, the Nature Boy Ric Flair or something, or,

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or just got out of a hard day of work? You know, I, I found

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my answer. is like 4 years ago. That, and that's, that

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to me is like, oh, I've got work to do. I've got,

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I've got growth that I need to work on here. Um, it happened

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when my daughter Michaela had this virus and she had this

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lung damage and she was struggling to breathe on her own. So we went to

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the hospital and they hooked her up to this oxygen machine and they,

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you know, it showed us the readings of what she could breathe.

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And they told us the goal is to get here. She can't sustain

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breathing on her own until she gets here. And it took hours

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and hours. And I just sat there and I prayed over her

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and I prayed and I prayed and I sang.

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And then I prayed some more. And it was like

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I was so tired, so exhausted. But my love for her

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being knit together in that love for her, I was like, no, I want to

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see her. breathe and be sustained again.

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And that is what encouraged me to keep pressing in and keep going.

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And also just seeing that number climb up and up and up, and she's here

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and she's running around and she's breathing well and all these amazing things.

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So this is why I think sustaining prayers and prayers for

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perseverance are so significant for, for me today.

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Take a look at verse 14.

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No, uh, sorry. Oh, it was already there. Oh yeah, yeah. Okay.

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Our dear friend Luke the doctor and Demas sends his

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greetings. So that's Colossians 4:14. We

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hear about this Demas guy again in 2 Timothy 4:9-10. Do

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your best to come to me quickly for Demas, because he

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loved this world, has deserted me, and has gone

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to Thessalonica. So there was approximately 4 to 6 years

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between Colossians and 2 Timothy was written.

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And in that time, a friend went from faithful co-laborer in the

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kingdom to lost in the world, lost to the world.

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There was a time in my walk in Christ, I'm like, that's impossible.

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I'm now 15 years in and I'm dealing with the fact that,

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you know, people that led me to Christ were

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instrumental in my maturity in Christ, like

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that fire that was burning in them is softening, you

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know, and they're struggling. And I'm just going like, so

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here's, here's my genuine request. Can you guys just

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look around the room for a second at each other?

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I know it makes you uncomfortable. Yes.

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Like, this is the fellowship we are knit

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together in love with.

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And my request is, would we take serious

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praying for each other to be sustained

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and to be preserved?

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The final bit of instruction Paul gives is

:

regarding evangelizing.

:

This is, uh, verses 5 through 6, Colossians 4.

:

Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders.

:

Make the most of every, every opportunity. Let your conversation

:

always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know

:

how to answer everyone. So

:

this seeing and savoring and being satisfied in

:

Christ is not for our— not just for our own personal

:

enjoyment and preservation. It is meant to be

:

shared with the world around us. There should be

:

something recognizable about the way citizens of

:

another kingdom speak and live and carry

:

themselves. So, uh, one—

:

Pastor Will could help me with her name. One Sunday I was backstage,

:

uh, after a service. I was in a sound closet by myself, and

:

this woman walked in that I had never seen before, and she

:

greeted me and she goes, hello. And I said,

:

hello. And I walked out and I,

:

I took a few steps out of the room and I thought, she's really

:

British. She really— and, and I walked back

:

in and I said, you're really,

:

you know, is it British? Was she— Natalie.

:

Natalie. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. And she was like, yes, I really am. So I

:

had just like mocked her to her face. Right. But it was

:

impossible not to notice. Right. She

:

sounded like the kingdom that she spent the most time in.

:

And there was a response to that. And my response kind of fit all the

:

biblical responses. All right. I mocked her,

:

number one. And then, well, that, that

:

might happen. And the next part isn't a guarantee, but then

:

my eyes were opened and I went,

:

I repent. I'm sorry. You know? And, and I was changed

:

through that moment. And now I'm like more cautious about my terrible

:

accents. So these things always

:

happen to me, by the way. It just always happens to me. So

:

Paul says, let your conversation be always full of grace,

:

seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

:

So in a sense, evangelism is like offering food

:

or water spiritually to those who are hungry and

:

thirsty. The meal that we aim to offer is Christ.

:

The meal that we aim to offer is Christ himself.

:

Okay? Christ, who is love and grace and mercy and

:

justice and truth and holiness, all at the same

:

time. All of those wonderful qualities, those

:

ingredients are never separated from each

:

other. They exist together. So when I read that,

:

um, let your conversation be always full of

:

grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know

:

how to answer everyone. I don't think Paul is

:

saying, I think we're supposed to give everyone

:

a different meal based on their individual

:

preferences and remove certain ingredients.

:

That's good.

:

I think he's saying that our calling is to give everyone the same meal,

:

but to adjust the level of seasoning we give each person

:

based on counsel from the Word of God and direction from the Holy Spirit

:

working together. So salt as

:

seasoning is purifying and preserving.

:

What seasoning can do to a meal is make

:

certain flavors or ingredients more pronounced than others.

:

All the ingredients are there, but I'm going to make these pronounced

:

a little bit. Now, having wisdom and discernment and all of that is very

:

difficult, but that's what we're called to. So if there is no

:

seasoning, The meal will be bland. So that

:

I— when I think about this, I'm like, people walk in and they start, and

:

we're singing, the joy of the Lord is our strength, but we haven't told our

:

face that we have joy in the Lord,

:

right? That's the meal with no seasoning. That's just

:

super bland. A few years

:

ago, my wife and I went to a Thai restaurant here in Smyrna.

:

We both ordered the same exact meal, the Pad Thai. It's

:

noodles, chicken, whatever it is in there. Both meals had the

:

same exact ingredients, and the server asked

:

each of us the same question: what spice level would you like?

:

So the, the choices were 1 to 5.

:

0 was not an option, okay? No

:

seasoning is not an option. So 1 to 5.

:

And I order a 1. 'Cause I'm—

:

I ordered a 1, okay? And my

:

wife asked quite possibly the worst question you could ever ask

:

to this server. Is 3 too hot?

:

Now, what makes this a terrible question is this server, this

:

Thai server, has been eating spice

:

level 5 for like their entire life. Yeah. Okay.

:

So to them, 3 is not too hot. It was too

:

hot. Like, Brittany was crying.

:

So the problem with that question, like I said, a person who's been eating a

:

meal with spice level 5 for the majority of their lives, they're not gonna give

:

you the right answer to that question unless they are properly

:

considering the person who is asking the question.

:

Discerning something. Well, you— I don't know if you could

:

handle that right now. Why don't we try a spice level 2?

:

So our call is not only to be a server, but to have the wisdom

:

to know when to say, why don't we start off with level 2? And

:

this is what I think the difference— okay.

:

Galatians dealing with legalism related to circumcision.

:

Colossians dealing with legalism related to circumcision.

:

He gave like a compliment sandwich to the Colossians.

:

He'd never been to this church before. Galatians, he's rolling with them for

:

a while. What does he say? You fools. Yeah. He turned

:

up the spice level. That's— but he still loves them. He's just a little

:

extra seasoning here. You know what I mean?

:

Our call towards spiritual maturity is to be sharpening each

:

other and ramping up that seasoning level as we go through life

:

together with wisdom, with love, with patience, kindness,

:

We got work to do, right? Amen. Amen.

:

I want to close with a short testimony, um, today.

:

As I was working on this message this morning, I was

:

planning, already prepared to discuss praying for

:

opportunities for open doors to share the gospel and

:

have gracious and seasoned speech with somebody. And

:

today I get a knock on my door here from Delaney, who's our

:

secretary, and she says, there is a young woman in the

:

parking lot that wants to see a pastor, and you're the

:

only one that's here. What do you want me to do with her?

:

And I'm like, get her out of here. You know, Bobby will be

:

here tomorrow, maybe. But I went out to meet her and I

:

brought her in and she just was like, I don't, I don't know

:

why I'm here. It's just like I felt like the Holy Spirit

:

was leading me here. And for an hour, she just shared all

:

of this stuff, this hard, unbelievable stuff to be

:

walking through about her life. And she didn't ask me for

:

nothing. She didn't ask me for anything. In fact, what she asked me

:

was, can you tell me more about Jesus? And can you

:

tell me what baptism is

:

and how I could take that step? So this

:

is not an interruption. This is a divine appointment.

:

Yeah. And I walked her through that, and I got a

:

chance to pray for her just over everything— her

:

family, her daughters. And, um, I

:

just kind of felt this nudge from the Holy Spirit to say, can, can

:

we buy your groceries for the week? She didn't

:

ask for anything. She totally broke down.

:

She was like, that is so kind. I would, I would love that.

:

I'd never asked for anything, but that's exactly what she needed in that moment.

:

Okay. And I just want to say thank you to Pastor Will and Pastor Allen

:

for helping me pull together the resources to do that. And

:

I am thankful to be in a church that empowers us

:

to look for opportunities to help people in need. Amen.

:

This is what Pastor Wayne was talking about, in word and in

:

deed. In that exact moment,

:

again, she shared with me an hour about all these issues.

:

She didn't need me to solve every single

:

question in her, her life with the Bible

:

in that moment. She needed me to

:

faithfully walk through the door that

:

God had opened. to listen with grace,

:

point her to Christ, pray for her, meet a

:

practical need, invite her into our

:

fellowship where she could hopefully

:

get this maturity in Christ and all of

:

that wonderful stuff. And that's what

:

we're called to do when we hold the

:

supremacy and the satisfaction in

:

Christ. Yeah. Let's pray. Father, I

:

thank you for your word. Um, God, I thank

:

you for difficult circumstances, Lord.

:

I thank you, um, that you would help us see those as

:

opportunities, Father, to, um,

:

perhaps share the gospel, to perhaps bring you glory,

:

Lord. Um, we know that your hand holds all those

:

things, Father, and we pray for an increased

:

devotion to prayer for each other, that we may be sustained and

:

preserved, Father, in this walk

:

towards you and to be like you. And we also thank you for

:

every opportunity that you have for us, and you've, you've already

:

established, Lord, in our path, and we just don't know it yet. Would you help

:

us to be prepared and mature and discerning and wise

:

and gracious and have our speech and our conduct just

:

seasoned properly in all these things. In Jesus' name,

:

amen. Thank you.

:

Thank you.

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