Trusting God in Making Me to Make Ministries More Effective in One Easy Step
Colossians 4:2-4 · Ephesians 6:18-19
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)
Please turn to Colossians 4:2-4. You can also turn to Ephesians 6:18-19. Ephesians 6:18-19 is the parallel to Colossians 4:2-4. As we are turning there, I want to remind us of an important fact: It is an amazing grace-privilege to be talked to by the Spirit, through the Scriptures, by the God of the universe. Likewise, it is also an amazing grace-privilege for God to urge us to devote ourselves to the amazing grace-privilege of talking to Him. We know for a fact that not only can we talk to God and petition Him for things, and intercede for others in seeking miraculous provisions, but we should do this with full assurance that God hears us with keen interest. He does this because we saved people are the ones who pray "in the Spirit," Ephesians 6:18. We also know that when we pray, we are doing what God wants us to do. On the other hand, there are multitudes of people who are immersed in false religions and various other superstitions. They think they are talking to a deity in a kind of prayer. Many of these people are not really sure if they are being heard. Some are not really sure whether they are praying in the right method that is supposed to get their deity's attention; or they don't really know for sure whether there really is a god listening to them. They do not pray like we do. They are lost in spiritual darkness. Their prayers go out into the empty darkness to dissipate into nothingness. They need to be saved by God's Spirit in a miraculous recognition of the One true God of the universe. Only in that process, will anyone pray a real prayer of communication to the real God in the spiritual rescue from the darkness. It is the prayer that God hears because it is "in the Spirit." In recognizing this, we also recognize that in the New Covenant age, both prayer and salvation are intimately married to one another in an unbreakable holy matrimony. What we take for granted as God's children, the lost are ignorant about. The lost are ignorant of these things, but this does not mean that the Holy Spirit will not choose to enlighten them at some point. The way God creates more of His children into spiritually saved beings that will be with Him forever in reconciliation is, by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. In thinking about these thing, I want us to also think about a certain aspect of this process that God has designed. In His process, God uses evangelism of the good news for the enlightenment. God does this through the ministry of Himself as the Holy Spirit. God also does this through the ministry of using His children who are created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2:10. Our primary ministry in salvation in Christ, is to take the good news of salvation in Christ, out to the world. It is our duty as God's church to spread God's word. This is ministry. It is mission. It is more. God has us communicating to others what He has communicated to us. I say all of this because I think it is very important for us recognize that part of this mission of communicating the gospel involves that amazing grace-privilege of talking to Him. It involves you and me, communicating back to God, by His own Spirit, to seek the provision of our Father specifically so that we can be effective missionaries of His word in the world. I want us to keep this in mind as we read our passages. Starting at Colossians 4:2,
"2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." Colossians 4:2-4
The parallel at Ephesians 6,
"18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel," Ephesians 6:18-19
Please prepare your heart, to learn along with me, in this sermon titled,
Trusting God in Making Me to Make Ministries More Effective in One Easy Step
[prayer]
It is apparent that God uses His people to minister. He uses me, and this becomes evident in what I am doing, like right now. But it is important to recognize that God uses all of his children to minister. To minister is to serve Him in the Spirit. It is also to serve others in the same Spirit. This means that God uses people like you. You are a minister. What I am wanting to bring out strongly this morning is that part of the ministry that God uses His people to accomplish is to help other ministers to accomplish their ministry work for the Lord. This is how the Lord has the body of Christ operating like a real body. God did not design the body to be segmented by amputation. He designed each member to exist together, and function together, as one organism. Think about this; because there are many ways that God uses all of us to help other ministers to accomplish their ministry work for the Lord. One way is through the biblical means of support through financial giving to meet ministry needs. For a lot of us, this is the one easy step that we trust God for in making us to be makers of ministries to be more effective. It is an easy step, and it is a Scriptural step. But, this morning, the Spirit is indicating, from our passage, that there is another easy step that is far more valuable than money. It is one of the most important, and effective, practices that a Christian can do for any ministry anywhere; but also, it is one of the most effective, and important, practices that Christians can do as ministry. The amazing part about this ministry is not just its incredible effectiveness, but the fact that it really is an easy step for you to do--that is, if you will do it. This morning I want us to glean four principles from our text in respect to trusting God in making me to make ministries more effective in one easy step.
/1/
The first principle I want to cover, is the easy to remember fact of what that one easy step actually is:
"3 praying at the same time for us as well, ..." Colossians 4:3
"19 and pray on my behalf, ..." Ephesians 6:19
@1 God wants us to __________________ on behalf of others. Colossians 4:3, Ephesians 6:19
Prayer is the big ministry practice that we can all do. It is easy, but for it to be a step, you need to actually do it. We all know how easy it is to pray when we want something, right? Without hardly thinking about it, we start asking God to intervene into a situation that affects our lives in some personal way. We also see in the Scriptures (like what Paul says here) that prayer is commanded to do. Paul starts out this teaching as an imperative for us to be devoted to continuous, ongoing, repetitive, prayers and petitions to God as we keep alert for things to pray for. Prayer is easy to do, but prayer, on a regular basis for God's work through ministers, is also easy to neglect. Let's consider some reasons for the neglect. One reason why it is easy to neglect prayer for ministry effectiveness is because we are not being properly discipled in the fact of how much God wants us to do it. If we really understood how much God wants us to do something, it changes our perspective. If we approach the arena of prayer with the idea that we just happen to have a thought to pray, or we have decided to nurture a discipline to pray simply because we generally have a feeling that prayer is a spiritual thing to do, and so we do it thinking that it is optional, but yet, good, then we are in a way of thinking that can actually keep us from praying. Let me explain some more: If we approach the arena of prayer thinking that it is optional, but yet, good, then we may decide that even though it is good, it is not necessarily bad not to pray. So, in thinking this way, we make prayer an ambivalent option. When prayer is an ambivalent option, it only takes on seriousness as something to do when you feel like you want to do it based upon your own criteria. People may not say it outright with their mouths, but the underlying sense is,
"Prayer matters, but it doesn't really matter that much if I don't pray."
By the way, nobody is saying that it is good not to pray, right? They are thinking that it is not bad to not pray.
So what happens?
Prayer can easily be put on the shelf; and it often is.
This is where improper discipleship in prayer actually inhibits our prayer life even though we may have been discipled to recognize that prayer is good. Proper discipleship teaches the importance of prayer, the goodness of prayer, and the mandate to pray as God's imperative urging to you to pray. In Holy Spirit led discipleship, we notice how Paul continues to teach the responsibility to pray while urging it. Notice that directly after he prays for the Colossians specifically, Paul says for the Colossians to pray specifically. The point is that it is necessary that they pray. It does not matter how they feel. The fact that prayer is good is already a given. But the fact that Paul says that it is imperative for them to pray, and to do so on an ongoing, repetitive basis, means that it is not good for them not to pray.
Also, notice what Paul urges them to pray for. He teaches them to pray for the apostolic group (the ministers) and the ministry. The Spirit is revealing His method of ministry relationship here, where God uses all His people in concert with His Holy Spirit. The Spirit is showing us that He wants us to pray for His ministers as more than something good. The Spirit indicates that as the body is joined with, and working with, itself, in God's grand orchestration of all things, by the Spirit, that this prayer is necessary. This prayer must be done, and this is the point I am trying to press this morning. It is the point that Paul pressed to both the Colossians and the Ephesians. You say,
"But Kerry, God can, and will, do whatever He wants, and He will do it without my help."
Of course He will; but the answer to that kind of comment is:
"So what?"
God also demonstrates what else He wants you to do; He tells you to pray directly from His word, and that when you do pray, He will do things based upon the prayer that He sovereignly commands you to do.
You say,
"But, God is sovereign. God determines all things after the counsel of His will."
You are right; and good for you--you also seem to think you are a very deep thinker. But, really this leads me to ask you that fundamental question again:
"So what?"
God's sovereignty is what I have been talking about all morning. God is sovereign, and so you need to obey Him in His sovereignty and pray according to the way He tells you to do it. You need to expect Him to answer according to His sovereignty in concurrence with the practice of His command to you to pray. This is His relationship with you that He has determined in His sovereign design. This is what is good. So, this first principle is that prayer for ministry is the big ministry practice that we can all do. It is an easy ministry step. But for it to be a step, you need to actually do it. This means that you need to do it according to the mandate and discipleship of what to do from the word of God.
Over in Ephesians, Paul makes a similar request that he expects to be obeyed. Paul says to pray on his behalf. When we pray on behalf of a minister, we should be thinking of what the minister is doing. The word of God is showing us that Paul wants prayer for himself, but also for what he is doing. I want us to also think about the lasting value of this. Part of the alertness that God wants us to have in respect to ministry-prayer-needs, is concerning what God is doing in this world that has lasting value. Praying for ministers who are called and devoted to the task of spreading of the word, specifically, has lasting value. This is God's eternal Kingdom work, and such people are God's workers that we are talking about. Certainly each of us glorifies God in every pocket of our life, from our business place in the market world, to our politics, to our family. But, the mission of proclaiming God's word is the primary mission of the church. It means proclaiming the word to the body, from the body, for the body's edification. It also means proclaiming the word to the lost world culture in evangelism. This is God's mandate for the church that continually fulfills biblical prophecy. Paul proclaims our great commission as he quotes the Old Testament over and over again,
"8 But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart'--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.' 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for 'Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.' 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!' 16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our report?' 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Romans 10:8-17
@2 Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the _________________ of Christ. Romans 10:17
While on earth, this is the primary mission of the church in glorifying God among the nations. We preach the word to the lost, and then when they are saved, we ground them in the teaching of God's word. All of this is good. It has lasting value. It is ministry that we are all commissioned and gifted to take part in through prayer.
/2/
This brings us to a second principle to glean from our text in respect to trusting God in making me to make ministries more effective in one easy step. It is to pray for God to miraculously open doors for the word. Paul says,
"... that God will open up to us a door for the word, ... for which I have also been imprisoned;" Colossians 4:3
@3 God wants us to pray that He will open up a __________________ for the word of Christ to be spread to the lost. Colossians 4:3
Let's call this "the open door principle." We need to think about this. When Paul wrote these words, Paul was behind prison doors. To natural eyes, the doors of ministry seemed as locked as the prison doors that confined Paul. Knowing this as his experience, Paul does not deny his imprisoned condition. He is not positively confessing away the prison doors in some kind of fictional gimmick doctrine. He is not speaking forth open doors in the world as if his confession is going to make them come into being. Paul is a real Apostle with the real revelation of reality. He does not deny the locked doors, yet Paul also does not deny the One who unlocks doors in miraculous ways. Something else that Paul recognizes is the ministry of the whole body through the ministry of the Spirit. Paul could pray for himself, and he probably does. But Paul wants intercession from the same body that He intercedes for in His own prayers. His specific request is for the body to pray for the miracle to occur from the One Who miraculously opens doors. The open door principle is that God opens doors in ministry, and He does it in respect to the prayers of His people who recognize His sovereignty. By the way, Paul uses this image of God opening doors three other times in his writings. When it comes to prayer, the language of "the open door" is something that we should learn and begin using in our conversations, especially when it comes to the ministry of prayer for the advancement of ministry. In other words, a lot of times, we don't know exactly what to seek in our prayers though we know we should seek the advancement of the gospel, and the teaching of God's word. In helping us to pray for this, the Spirit shows us that the point is that the "open door" is a biblically tangible request for what we should seek. At the end of Paul's first missionary journey, he reported to the church in Antioch about what God had done. What did God do?
"They declared all that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." Acts 14:27
God opened a door for the mystery of Christ to be revealed to the non-Israelite ethnics. In 1 Corinthians, Paul explained his itinerary like this:
"I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries." 1 Corinthians 16:8-9
This open door that Paul looked forward to God opening was for circumstances that are miraculously primed by the Holy Spirit for work that is called "effective." Listen carefully; the open door principle is that God wants you and me to pray for locked doors to open up for effective, fruitful, ministry. But, you have to pray. We may see adversaries, hard hits, and all kinds of problems at every turn, but this is all the more reason, in our alertness, to pray for the open doors to come. In 2 Corinthians Paul says,
"When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord;" 2 Corinthians 2:12
Paul's mission was specifically to preach the gospel of Christ. Paul did not open the door. God did. Again, what we are praying for is for God to miraculously open specific doors so that the preaching of the mystery of Christ will advance to become effective and fruitful. We want more than just an opportunity to open our mouths. We want miraculous fruit, where God gives the words, and the words effect hearts, by His Spirit that produces faith among the hearers in the wide door of effective work. It works like this:
In the saving of souls, God is at work opening doors, and He is also the one who opens up the hearts to receive and believe.
Think about Paul's missionary move into Europe when God opened a door for Paul to go there and preach the gospel for the first time. In Acts 16, we read of how Paul went to Derbe and to Lystra. When Paul got to Lystra, he arrived at the place where he picked up Timothy to go along with him on his mission. According to the record, we read that the missionary group was passing through the Phrygian and Galatian region in Acts 16:6. All of a sudden, we notice that God had closed a door by His sovereign hand. We read,
"... having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;" Acts 16:6
God opens doors for ministry, but God also closes doors for ministry. Next we read that God did it again,
"7 and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;" Acts 16:7
But then next, we read about the open door for ministry.
"8 and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' 10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them." Acts 16:8-10
This is what we are praying for--the open door of God's call to preach the gospel in a particular situation that has been prepared by Him. So, we see that God opens the door for effective ministry. But there is more here. I want us to see what happens next. It is where God opens the door of hearts for the effectiveness of the ministry to produce the life changing fruit that comes from the miracle of God,
"11 So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled." Acts 16:11-13
The ministry door was opened, and so they spoke forth the word of God. What happens next is important. It is where God opens the human heart door,
"14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul." Acts 16:14
This is what we are looking for in our prayers for doors to be opened. We are praying for opportunities to develop, and unfold, for the gospel to go and be preached; for it to take root, and for it to grow. Sure the open door has to do with circumstances, and places, and things; but it also has to do with the most important aspect. It has to do with people. Ministry is about people. So, just like Paul, we might think we are behind prison doors, or that a ministry, or an area, or a people group, is behind prison doors; and so instead of thinking that things have been shut down, we pray for the doors to be opened. We may think that there is a person whose heart is hopelessly imprisoned, with no way out. In other words, to human eyes, they are so vile that they seem unsaveable. We can not presume that God will not open the door of their heart. We can only know that we must pray for their heart. Paul urged for prayers to be given for people to be saved in 2 Thessalonians 3:1. He urged the Thessalonian Christians to beseech God to make the gospel become effective in the place that Paul is going in the same way it was effective among them. In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul urged entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all people; for kings and all who are in authority. Paul said that this kind of prayer is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people of every class, including the very authorities that opposed Christians, to be saved. But God opens the hearts of Kings, and so this is why Paul says to pray this prayer. This was Paul's prayer "wish to God," when standing before Agrippa. Paul's wish to God was that Agrippa and all who were listening, would become "Christians," Acts 26:28-29. This was Paul's prayer concerning lost Israelites, when Paul demonstrated plainly, that He relied on the miraculous door opener,
"1... my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." Romans 10:1
This is a robust understanding of our second principle: praying that God will miraculously open doors for the word to be effective.
/3/
Notice that Paul wants to minister the word of God by having more opportunities opened up to him to proclaim the word of God where the words of men have dominated. This leads to what the message is that the ministers are to speak which is the third principle to glean from our text in respect to trusting God in making me to make ministries more effective in one easy step.
"... so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ," Colossians 4:3
"... to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel," Ephesians 6:19
@4 God wants us to pray for people to share the good news by speaking the ______________________ of the gospel, which is the __________________________ of Christ. Colossians 4:3, Ephesians 6:19
What we are praying for is miraculous intervention by God for something to be proclaimed that is specific. This is important because there are a lot of truths that we can proclaim in ministry. This particular truth has to do with the good news of the mystery of Christ. This is the foundational message. It is the bread and butter of all ministry. The gospel is the good news of God that encompasses all the riches of Christ Jesus. The good news is what the lost have either never heard, or they have heard it but they do not understand (but in the miracle, they will understand, receive, and believe). The message that we want to pray to go forth in the world, in productive fruit, is that the promised Messiah-King has come. The good news is that He came to announce who He is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The good news is that He knew He would be rejected by them, according to prophecy, and in His rejection, He was crucified as the ultimate sacrifice for sins of both Jews and Gentiles of the world. The good news is that the sacrifice lives because He raised from the dead to triumph over death. The good news is that, in His death and resurrection, all who receive Him as Lord and Savior are saved spiritually by God's grace through faith. The good news is that this salvation means that we are reconciled to God in His great rescue where He transfers us out of the domain of darkness and places us in the kingdom of the King forever.
Notice that Paul wants prayer for God to miraculously supply the boldness for this proclamation. The easy step for any of us, is to pray for the steps of other ministers to go forth and proclaim the mystery of Christ with boldness. With the open door, boldness is necessary to take advantage of the opening. Evidently Paul recognizes that there are times when he is not bold, and there are times when he is bold. The times of not being bold are not what Paul recognizes are good. Again, Paul is the theologian. He not only knows what he needs, but he knows how to get it. On the other hand, we could be tempted to think,
"Paul, you have faith. You have been called. You have been gifted. So, what is the problem? Don't you have boldness already?"
We could even think,
"Isn't boldness a fruit of the Spirit, and aren't you full of the Spirit Paul?"
It is easy to say,
"Just go ahead and appropriate the boldness that is in you indicatively, and you will practice out of you the boldness of Christ that has already been given to you."
These are all thoughts that come from religious clichés of modern day theologians who think they understand the full counsel of God according to the riches of the mystery of Christ. But, contrary to what others think, Paul thinks, by the Spirit, that He needs the rest of the body to pray for Him to have boldness when the door is opened. Evidently, to Paul, it takes more than "appropriating" something that we supposedly already have in Christ. Evidently, to Paul, this is more than the kind of faith issue that "believes unto boldness." Nevertheless, this actually is a faith issue, where Paul is relying on the work of the Spirit through the prayers of the body for him to have boldness at the proper time. It is a faith issue for Paul to command this prayer for himself. It is a faith issue, but even in faith, apparently if the boldness is not there, then the boldness is not there. These kinds of statements in the Bible should wake up the so-called hyper-spiritually minded folks to the reality of not going beyond what is written. It will save you from wrong doctrine, which will save you from condemning yourself when you lack boldness at times, or it will keep you from judgmentally scrutinizing others when they lack boldness too. It will also keep you from idealistic beliefs about the Holy Spirit that are not the way God understands it all. It should also lead us to pray for ministers, who teach the truth, to have boldness. This leads us to also consider that with praying for the actual message, and the boldness to proclaim it, there is the fourth and last principle to pray.
/4/
It is for us to pray about the actual articulation of the message that is to come from the mouths of those who minister,
"4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." Colossians 4:4
"... that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth," Ephesians 6:19
@5 God wants us to pray for people to share the good news by making it __________________ by giving utterance to their ___________________. Colossians 4:4, Ephesians 6:19
When we think about this prayer request from Paul, we surmise that Paul already knew what to speak, right?
Paul understands the gospel of the mystery of Christ pretty well. Further, Paul is already led by the Spirit when He speaks. He has been appointed, and anointed, to preach the gospel. By the time of this letter, Paul has already preached some of his most famous sermons. When we think about this, it seems that it would already be clear as to how Paul is to speak. Let's consider this:
Just like expecting Paul the apostle to have boldness when God opens the door for it, evidently Paul did not think it would always be clear to him how to speak, right?
Obviously, he did not think that he would necessarily have utterance given to him in the opening of his mouth without the prayer. This is an important fact for us to recognize. It is important because even though Paul knew the message, and even though he has been ministering all along, and even though Paul knows better than most people living at that time that the Holy Spirit leads Paul, Paul still thinks he needs prayer for knowing how he should speak in accuracy and clarity. But it is even deeper than this. Why? Because we know that Paul was more than likely praying for himself, right? But, Paul has the revelation. He knows the principle. Paul seeks prayer from other members of the body for what he evidently could pray for himself, because Paul knows that he "needs" those prayers. This has been the foundation of this whole sermon. God has designed ministry in this world as a "whole body" experience where all the members "need" one another as we find in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 5, and so many other places. Though we would expect certain ministers to already know what, and how, to speak, the Spirit is showing us, in a strong way, that this is not always the case. You, and I, and all members of the body, are needed to make ministers more effective in articulating truths with accuracy and clarity, and it is an easy step for us to take in doing this when we pray. When you pray for me, or for one of our missionaries we support, to make it clear in the way to speak, so that utterance may be given in the opening of our mouths, one area that this encompasses is so that the words would be as if they are the utterances of God. This is the substance of clarity and accuracy. Peter urges the great standard to which every Christian should seek to attain. It is especially important for ministry,
"11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ," 1 Peter 4:11
@6 God wants us to speak as if we are speaking the _______________________ of God. 1 Peter 4:11
When you pray for me (and other ministers too), pray that when I speak, I would do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. Pray that my thoughts, and words, would line up with God's revealed word accurately and clearly. Pray that I would be a tool in God's hand who is like a mouth piece relaying the good news of the mystery of Christ, His kingdom, His doctrine, and His precepts. Pray that I would serve God and others in reliance upon the strength that God supplies instead of thinking it is my own strength that is supplying my ministry. Pray that I would speak the utterances of God in contrast to my own personal philosophies. Pray that the word of God will come out of my mouth and cut through the thick darkness, as the shining sword of the Spirit blinds men to the ground like Christ blinded Paul, while instantly opening their eyes to the things of the Spirit in the miraculous work of God where He raises them up to seat them at the right hand of the Father in Christ Jesus!
As I finish up this morning, let me give you four areas to pray for me (and our missionaries) to be clear in respect to the way I (we) ought to speak, concerning the utterance to be given to us in the opening of our mouths with the mystery of Christ. The first is that we will consistently use what God has given for true profit. Pray, pray, pray, that we will commit to sticking with Scripture for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness.
"16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17
@7 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for __________________, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be __________________, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
The second is pray, pray, pray, that we would be careful, and
"... not to go beyond what is written," 1 Corinthians 4:6
Pray that the subtle taint of personal philosophy, and doctrines of the world, will not creep into God's message. The third is, pray, pray, pray, that we would,
"Be ... accurately handling the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15
Pray that our interpretation, our understanding, and our application, will be accurate, and precise. The fourth is, pray, pray, pray, that we would focus upon Christ, and that our message will be Christ exalting. Paul said in Ephesians concerning the same mystery of Christ that he is asking prayer for proclaiming accurately and clearly,
"4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the good news, 7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;" Ephesians 3:4-9
Christ Jesus is our all in all. The ultimate message to preach boldly is the unfathomable riches of Christ, but it must be preached accurately; it must be preached precisely, and it must be preached with clarity. These are the things that need to be proclaimed without compromise and watering down the truths of God's word in His New Covenant.
I strongly urge all of us to pray for ministers. We need to pray for ministries in general. Remember the easy step which is the first principle. Prayer is the big ministry practice that we can all do. It is easy, but for it to be your step, you need to actually do it. Start making it your step in your daily walk. Secondly, pray for the miracle of the open doors for the word. The open door principle is answered by God in amazing ways. But for us to see the answers, we must pray and ask in our intercessory ministry. Thirdly, remember that we are praying for something to be proclaimed that is specific. We are praying for the proclamation of the truths of the good news of the mystery of Christ. This is the foundational backbone of our message. It is the bread and butter of all ministry. Finally, remember that we must pray about the actual articulation of the message that is to come from our mouths. It must be accurate and clear. This means that it must be Scriptural. This means that we must not to go beyond what is written. We must accurately handle the word of truth. It must be clear. And this always means that that our message will be Christ exalting. When you do this, then you are trusting God in making you to make ministries more effective in one easy step of prayer. Amen.
@1 God wants us to __________________ on behalf of others. Colossians 4:3, Ephesians 6:19
@2 Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the _________________ of Christ. Romans 10:
@3 God wants us to pray that He will open up a __________________ for the word of Christ to be spread to the lost. Colossians 4:3
@4 God wants us to pray for people to share the good news by speaking the ______________________ of the gospel, which is the __________________________ of Christ. Colossians 4:3, Ephesians 6:19
@5 God wants us to pray for people to share the good news by making it __________________ by giving utterance to their ___________________. Colossians 4:4, Ephesians 6:19
@6 God wants us to speak as if we are speaking the _______________________ of God. 1 Peter 4:11
@7 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for __________________, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be __________________, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
